


I Like You, two

by heonniebread



Series: Boyfriends [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Asexual Character, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Found Family, Humor, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Pride Parades, Romance, Slice of Life, Smut, homophobic parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:00:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27930415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heonniebread/pseuds/heonniebread
Summary: Minhyuk is gonna go out there and be gay.
Relationships: Lee Jooheon/Lee Minhyuk, Lee Jooheon/Lee Minhyuk/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu, Lee Jooheon/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu, Lee Minhyuk/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu
Series: Boyfriends [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937542
Comments: 17
Kudos: 51





	I Like You, two

**Author's Note:**

> tw // homophobic parents, homophobia
> 
> take a shot every time they say "i love you"

It's so damn hot out, but Minhyuk is trying to be more active, because he has a lot of energy and doesn't know how to channel it. Jooheon has a lot of energy but does know how to channel it, so together they're perfect. Except Jooheon does sports. He's not very good at it. He does it to have fun, while Minhyuk is the competitive type and wants to absolutely demolish the other person, and it makes him mad that Jooheon is being all smiley about absolutely annihilating Minhyuk at basketball. Minhyuk sucks at basketball, but he wants to be magically good at it otherwise what’s the point? If Jooheon’s not eating dirt, then Minhyuk isn’t playing right.

Now he's in Jooheon's driveway and he's determined to do a lay up.

Honestly, he doesn't even know what a lay up is. But he’s gonna do it. If he can ever get himself back up off the ground. Minhyuk wants to peel his gross and sweaty shirt off. He's sweating, he's sweating so much and the sun is beating down on him. _Ugh_ he smells. This is why, back in high school, he used to use every excuse in the book to sit out during gym class.

"I'm too gay for this!" Minhyuk sprawls onto the grass and everything spins for a second, he hears the birds humming, a lawnmower a few houses over. The sounds of summer. And he wants to drown himself with water from the hose.

Jooheon stands over him with a wicked smile. "We've been playing for two hours."

Minhyuk's chest feels like it's on fire. His legs want to float away.

"Two?" Disgusting. “I’m done.” Fuck the lay up.

After a shower they cuddle up on the couch, relaxing while Minhyuk’s parents are out. Minhyuk's house is eerily quiet.

It's usually eerily quiet. It's always quiet.

Minhyuk's an only child. His parents value silence. There's never the hum of people, of life, inside his house. They don't like it when friends come over because of the mess. They don’t like Changkyun, period. They don't like it when Minhyuk plays video games too loudly. They don't like it when he plays music too loud. Minhyuk's house feels like a ghost town. It's why he loves Changkyun's home, where they yell up the stairs for each other, and watch movies in the living room with surround sound, and Ali plays classic rock when she's cooking dinner and Bruce will head bang until he's dizzy while Changkyun plays an imaginary guitar.

Jooheon's house is much more chill, but there's no tension when Jooheon bops through the house playing music on a speaker. Jooheon's parents play puzzles together and they talk across the kitchen while trying to figure out words that fit. There's always the buzz of happiness in Jooheon's house. But never in Minhyuk's. Sometimes it's so quiet he forgets his parents are home. It's better when it's silent, though, the other option is when they decide to lecture him on his 'habits' and 'behaviors' being too flamboyant. Minhyuk's tired of hearing it.

Tonight they're not home. It's him and Jooheon, causing more noise than the house has felt in years. It sticks to the beige walls like a shiny coating. All they're doing is playing charades. But Jooheon is yelling, and swinging his arms around and getting on the floor and lifting a leg when the word for Minhyuk to guess is 'dog.' For every correct guess, he gets a kiss. Even the kisses are loud, smacking and exaggerated, and every single wet obnoxious kiss makes Minhyuk feel so much, his laughter chasing up the stairs.

Jooheon makes him so fucking happy. Even in this house, where Minhyuk sits in the driveway every day when he gets home and takes a deep breath, preparing himself to go inside. Jooheon, his own personal little sunshine, gives him momentary comfort in this house.

He clings to Jooheon a little, kisses all over his head when Jooheon crashes after doing a victory run around the living room.

"My parents should be home soon." Minhyuk says, petting a hand through Jooheon's hair. He's so sweaty. Again. They just showered.

Jooheon whines and throws a leg over his thighs. "I'll lock the doors. They're not coming in!"

They need to be safe, so they end their night here. Jooheon kisses him a little more and Minhyuk holds onto him a little tighter, tries to keep a little of that joyful light Jooheon carries around with him in his heart. But the house is quiet again once the front door closes behind Jooheon. His parents, when they come home half an hour or so later, bring the dark cloud with them. The only reason they say hello to Minhyuk is because he's curled up on the couch. If he'd been in his room or in the game room, they wouldn't of said anything.

"That Im boy still works at the restaurant."

His father isn't making a comment out of curiosity, his tone is flat. Judging. As if working as a waiter were lowly, when Minhyuk knows they just went out for dinner, relying on a service they shame Changkyun for.

"Yep." Minhyuk says flippant, cutting the conversation off at the end.

For some reason, his father keeps at it. "Hasn't he graduated yet?"

Changkyun still has two more semesters to go. Two part-time semesters, because he has an internship at a lab, doing what he wants to be doing, doing something monumental in his life. Minhyuk is so fucking proud of Changkyun; of all the bullshit he's sludged through, of the all the ways he's picked himself right back up, of all the ways he's gotten up the next morning after a late-night drink. Minhyuk has watched Changkyun shove through it all. He boils at his parents attitude towards one of his best friends.

"Almost there. He has an internship."

"Doing what?"

Minhyuk bites back his grin. "Forensic analyst. He's with the state."

That shuts his father right the fuck up. But Minhyuk wants to dig the knife a little deeper. It sucks, how Minhyuk takes such satisfaction in shutting his parents up. His parents always wanted him to go into the sciences, or the medical field, but Minhyuk's brain doesn't work like that. Changkyun's though? Does. And he's good at it. And you know who else is good at it?

"My friend, Kihyun, you know him. He came here once, Korean boy. Black hair." Minhyuk looks directly at his fathers shuddered expression. "Changkyun's boyfriend." Emphasis on boyfriend.

His father stiffens, his mother turns away.

"He works with pharmaceuticals and medicine, in a lab. You never know, he could cure cancer." Minhyuk doesn't think that's what Kihyun's job _actually_ entails. Honestly, when Kihyun explains his day Minhyuk imagines him in a lab coat, in one of those labs that the bad guys raid during hero movies, sitting over a petri dish watching mold grow for eight hours a day.

So, yeah, maybe Changkyun still gives a few hours a week to the restaurant, but that's his aunt's restaurant and his own business so, Minhyuk's parents can eat it. And he's going to brag about his friends accomplishments until he turns blue in the face.

* * *

Kihyun grips the steering wheel, stares out at the vast, empty parking lot. This shit has been empty since before Minhyuk moved to the U.S, even before he was born. The cracks in the pavement and the barely there lines in the pavement are perfect for scaring the shit out of Kihyun. There's nothing for him to crash into, but Kihyun stares at the parking lot as if Minhyuk put him face to face with a wall.

"This isn't funny."

"The world," Minhyuk gestures to the weeds sticking out of the pavement. "Is your oyster."

"I fucking hate oysters." Jooheon inputs from the backseat.

"That's great, honey." Minhyuk glances back at Jooheon, who sticks a tongue out at him.

"I'm gay I can't drive." Kihyun mumbles, hands slipping down to six on the wheel.

"I'm gay and I drive. Shut up." Minhyuk adjusts Kihyun's hands. Ten and two. "Besides, you can't fool me, you tricky bisexual."

"But you can't do math. There's a balance to these things."

Jooheon howls, laughs so hard he's almost crying. "You have… _no_ idea.. We took algebra together. In high school.”

"What's x if 9x = 648?"

Minhyuk balks. That's a big number. Jooheon stops laughing, realizes his reputation on the line and digs for his phone in his back pocket but Kihyun, just as fast as he asked the question, says, "Seventy-two."

"You did that in your head?" Jooheon nearly unlocks his jaw his mouth drops so wide open. "Quick, seven times, uh, twenty-eight."

Minhyuk blanks for a second, brain opting to _not_ , but Kihyun responds, "One-ninety-six. I have a masters in Orgo-Chem, I can do some multiplication."

"Okay whatever." Minhyuk waves his hand between them. "You know what numbers you need to know? Ten." He slides Kihyun's left hand back into place. "And two." Kihyun's hand is already there.

"Like a clock." Jooheon gestures to the steering wheel. Always great input, honey.

"Press the brake. Press and hold it." Minhyuk leans over to make sure Kihyun's foot is hovering over the correct pedal. Kihyun presses his foot down. Good. "Now, put the car in drive."

Kihyun shifts the car into drive. They don't move.

Minhyuk glances at Jooheon.

"So… like, if you want the car to move…" Jooheon uses his hand to demonstrate what Kihyun should do with his foot.

Kihyun takes a deep breath and slowly lifts his foot. The car creaks, rolls maybe three inches, and then Kihyun slams on the break, Jooheon nearly ends up in the front seat and Minhyuk bangs his elbow on the door.

It's a gorgeous July day, the sun is shining, there's not a single cloud in the sky, all the windows are down, and by the end of today, Minhyuk, Kihyun and Jooheon's ghosts are gonna haunt this plot of land because Kihyun's going to kill them in a parking lot that's been empty for thirty years.

Okay, so, he doesn't get much better, but Kihyun manages to not snap anyone's neck. They spend about an hour just rolling around the parking lot, and Minhyuk is somehow so exhausted he lets Jooheon drive his car home. Kihyun makes a beeline to Changkyun’s house, probably to brag that he drove, though he really didn't, and Minhyuk will make sure to make it known in the group chat later that he did not successfully maneuver the Hyundai through the parking lot. It was pretty much a failure. At least he (Minhyuk forced him) tried.

"He's never getting a license." Jooheon says, handing Minhyuk his car keys.

Minhyuk can't help but laugh, lean against the side of his car and smile when Jooheon moves in close. Not too close, because his parents are home.

"I will teach him if it's the last thing I do." Minhyuk wants to reach out and hold Jooheon by his perfect little waist. Has Minhyuk ever mentioned how hot he thinks Jooheon's shape is? Especially since he's toning up? Has Minhyuk ever mentioned how sexy Jooheon looks in a tank? How he wears all those huge sweaters that drown out his perfect V shape and it makes Minhyuk kinda mad until they're alone and he takes it off and suddenly Minhyuk is faced with all _that_.

"You're not listening." Jooheon pouts.

Has Minhyuk ever mentioned how Jooheon pouts and he'd gladly help him bury a body?

"I'm listening." Minhyuk's eyes trail back up Jooheon's body. Bless the warmer weather and t-shirts tucked into skinny jeans, a look that Jooheon owns. "Kihyun is gonna crash us through the front entrance of the building, mh-hm, I'm listening."

Jooheon laughs and swats away Minhyuk's hands. "Why are you like this? Chill out."

"So, _so_ hard when I'm with you." Minhyuk reaches out to drop a hand on Jooheon's waist. But his parents are home, so he lets it fall back to his side. He can see, though, Jooheon staring at his lips. Jooheon wants to kiss him as much as Minhyuk wants to kiss him. He can’t help it when he reaches up and trails his fingers over the shapes of Jooheon’s face.

Jooheon smiles a bit, but reaches up to gently pull at Minhyuk’s elbow, guide his hand away. That’s too touchy, and Minhyuk’s heart sinks.

Minhyuk knows his parents aren't going to accept them; _him_. He knows this. He's prepared. He's looking at apartments with Changkyun. He's getting ready for the next step of his life, and he's looking at it with Jooheon in his thoughts. He's thinking about Jooheon when he thinks of his plans for the future. Because he wants to kiss him and post stupid cute posts on Instagram and tell the world that he loves Jooheon so so so fucking much. And he wants to be himself. He wants to go to Pride and post photos, of him and Changkyun in rainbow feather boas, rainbows painted on their faces. He wants to kiss Jooheon underneath a huge ass inflatable rainbow at the next Pride and post the image on his wall in his bedroom. He wants to be with Jooheon forever, though he hasn’t shared that feeling yet, and he doesn’t want to be shy about it.

He remembers when Changkyun posted photos, when he posted a video of him running waving a huge gay pride flag, and Minhyuk just wants to live openly. He hates being jealous. He hates that Changkyun and Kihyun, or Hyungwon and Hoseok, post about their relationship all the time and he has to live in silence.

Minhyuk is not a quiet person.

"Why are you sad?" Jooheon cups his face and Minhyuk leans into it, taking any kind of physical contact he can right now.

"I love you, my honey."

"I love you too, Minnie." Jooheon's thumb grazes his cheek. “I should go home.” Because how long can they stand in Minhyuk’s driveway staring longily for until it’s very obvious that this isn’t heterosexual behavior? They should’ve gone to Jooheon’s house, where his parents know, and really don’t mind. Minhyuk still wouldn’t kiss in front of Jooheon’s parents, but at least, if they cuddle up on the couch to watch a movie, no one bats an eye.

Minhyuk glances at his house. The living room curtains are pulled closed. He sneaks a little kiss onto Jooheon’s wrist, smiling when Jooheon looks soft. Gives him another kiss there, lingering and sweet.

“Text me when you get home.” Minhyuk chuckles. Jooheon rolls his eyes and slips his hand away, then crosses the street to go home. Minhyuk watches him cross the lawns, and then go up the front porch to his house, and he stops and waves back before heading inside.

Minhyuk turns back to his house, takes a deep breath, and fishes his keys out of his pocket. He hops up the front steps, thinking about dinner, about Itaewon Class, which is what he plans on doing later, curled up in bed. Maybe he’ll call Jooheon and complain, since Jooheon’s already seen it. Minhyuk checks his phone, responds to a message from Hyunwoo about hanging out tomorrow.

Normally, Minhyuk would be excited. He likes Hyunwoo, and his ever-sweet presence, his huge ass bear hugs, but Minhyuk knows himself well enough to trust the little swirl of apprehension in his gut. He’s been… weary of Hyunwoo lately, because Jooheon spends a lot of time with him. Minhyuk would consider himself the jealous type, yes, but he’s rational, and he’s known Jooheon for ten years. And he knows, very well, that if anything were to happen, Jooheon would tell him.

Minhyuk shakes off the thought. Why is he assuming something’s happening?

Still looking down at his phone, Minhyuk barely registers his father, in the foyer, fuming. He’s absolutely fuming. Minhyuk frowns, makes a move to go around him, already thinking, _fuck, hopefully Joojoo misses me already_ , and then he goes cold. His earrings feel heavy. They weigh his head down into a little bow, and he braces himself, pulling on layers like armor.

He gasps, as the back of his father’s hand comes across the side of his face.

Never. _Never_. Did Minhyuk think this would happen.

He gapes up at his father, his heart beat pounding in his throat, his ears buzzing like a hive of bees, and his eyes well up with tears.

“Get out of my house.”

Minhyuk thinks he’s breathing, his chest is moving, his legs are moving, he opens his mouth.

“Jooheon? Really.” His mother looks as far on the scale of disappointment as his father is on rage.

Minhyuk opens his mouth, his jaw shaking. His vision blurs, and he turns around and leaves.

He knew it’d be bad.

He knew they wouldn’t accept him.

Minhyuk knocks on Jooheon’s front door and slinks to his knees. He didn’t hit hard enough, there’s no way anyone heard him knock. He tries again. He presses the doorbell, and stands up. Minhyuk is the strongest one of the group. He swallows his feelings, but can’t bury down the sting across his face. His voice cracks when he opens it and says hello to Junhyung, Jooheon’s father.

“Are you…” Junhyung steps aside, Minhyuk flinches when he raises a hand. Great. Here comes his trauma already.

Minhyuk doesn’t realize how badly he’s shaking until he’s in Jooheon’s arms, and his legs give way. He can barely hear anything. Jooheon speaks in Korean to his worried and crowding parents, and though it’s Minhyuk’s native tongue, it sounds so foreign. Minhyuk is physically trying to pick himself up. He’s dealt with his parents homophobic tirades for years, he’s protected Changkyun from them, he’s protected himself. He's rolled his eyes at their homophobic rants over the dinner table until he drank to forget about them. He’s Lee Minhyuk, he’s got a handle on everything.

_He’s got a handle on everything._

He tries to swat Jooheon away, tries to get himself his own ice pack, but Jooheon leads him upstairs and sits him in bed and tells him to stay, and Minhyuk has never been so willing to give someone else the reins.

It must be red, if Jooheon winces when he looks at Minhyuk’s face, if Jooheon knows exactly where to gingerly place the ice.

Minhyuk curls up into Jooheon’s loving arms. Closes his eyes and listens to Jooheon’s heartbeat.

His father always told him, men don’t cry. Men don’t show emotion. Men aren’t vulnerable. But his father has always been really shitty, anyway.

Minhyuk holds onto Jooheon and sobs.

* * *

Minhyuk’s cheek is still sore, and his heart’s not really sinking anymore, moreso drowning as he tries to tread water, but he wakes up at four in the morning in Jooheon’s arms and startles a little, thinking, _he has to go home_ , he can’t spend the night with Jooheon especially when his parents are home. Except the pain in his cheek reminds him he can’t go anywhere. The only place he has right now is Jooheon’s arms.

There’s a kiss on the top of his head. One, then two, then five and then a dozen. Minhyuk smiles even though the stretch hurts his face.

“Why are you up?”

“I’m not.” Jooheon mumbles, melting against him. He’s still in jeans. They’re both still in jeans.

Minhyuk loves Jooheon so fucking much, and if he had to get kicked out for it, so be it.

* * *

Thankfully it doesn’t bruise, but Changkyun keeps looking where it happened. Like he knows. Minhyuk wonders if there’s something there everyone else can see that he can’t. Not that he’s really looking, he knew this day was coming, in whatever form it came in.

“You two have talked about moving out together?” Jooheon glances between them. They haven’t exactly filled him in on the plans.

“We were… actually looking at places in Medford.” Minhyuk and Changkyun have a shared Google Doc of all the apartments they’ve been considering, with a pros and cons list underneath each place. The biggest con over most of them, in all red text, reads, BUDGET???

They’ve sat at coffee shops together, they met up with Hyunwoo to talk about his process for finding his apartment, the things he had to cut in order to be able to afford rent, and Minhyuk and Changkyun have a solid budget mapped out, a pretty solid plan, they were just hoping to hold out a little more, save some more money. They were thinking next year. Next spring. Seven months from now. Because even though Changkyun is the biggest dumbass Minhyuk’s ever encountered, Changkyun is solid, and knows when to reel himself in, and willing to listen to advice and think on it and he’s got a really fucking good head on his shoulders. There’s no one Minhyuk would rather move out with. Though, he thinks he and Kihyun would also be a great roommate pair. But Kihyun is Changkyun’s boyfriend and telling Changkyun that Kihyun is a High Candidate for Awesome Roommate when they’ve been together for, oh, eight months, is a Bad Idea.

If they moved out in the spring, Changkyun would be graduated, hopefully with a job, since his internship is going amazing and he’s hella smart and he’s in the right place, and Minhyuk wants to shake Changkyun and tell him he’s so fucking stupid for thinking he’s stupid. The asshole is a Forensic Scientist.

Anyway.

“We were looking at two bedroom apartments, and they’re all so expensive.” Minhyuk shows Jooheon the Google Doc.

“Yeah, I could afford it,” Changkyun makes decent money at the restaurant, catering to the White and Wealthy has really helped his pocket, “But, like, we don’t know what the second half of this year is gonna bring. _My_ job wise.”

Minhyuk groans and spreads out on Changkyun’s bed; his head in Jooheon’s lap, a leg over Changkyun’s. He starts in the school district in the fall. He’s going to have his own classroom and his own bundles of malleable little brains to teach. He’s already daydreamed about what his classroom will look like to Jooheon; open windows, rows of desks, it’s going to be so colorful. He can’t fucking wait. The only problem is he doesn’t have a job over the summer. So moving out right now is even more impossible.

“Work with me.” Changkyun says, disrupting Minhyuk’s trailing thoughts. “Work at the restaurant for a little while, it’s not hard. You can buss for like, three months— less than that. The summer’s almost over, then go teach. Mold those little brains.”

“Raise them to be minions so when they’re older and you say the word, they just snap into a hypnotic trance and follow your every lead.” Jooheon still clicks through the Google Doc. Minhyuk laughs at his comment and grabs him by the chin to give him an affectionate shake. Minhyuk’s main concern right now though:

“I’m technically homeless.”

Jooheon blinks really fast, bites his lower lip, as if he had thought about it but didn’t want to say it. “You can spend some time with me.”

“Yeah, dude, and I have a guest room. Don’t think for a fuckin’ second my mom and Brucey wouldn’t let you stay here.”

“And, Hyunwoo-hyung, Hoseok-hyung, Hyungwon-hyung and Kihyun-hyung literally wouldn’t let you sleep outside.” Jooheon adds.

Minhyuk drops his hand to his chest, still looking up at Jooheon. His cheeks look extra squishy from this angle. He realizes he’ll have to tell everyone. Minhyuk’s always handled shit on his own. He’s loud. He’s the class clown. But he’s handled shit on his own. Telling everyone, jumping around from house to house, doesn’t seem like handling it on his own.

“Don’t forget who really loves you.” Jooheon looks down at him, his face set. It’s not too serious, not too somber, but a little thoughtful. It’s the Jooheon that only comes out when they really need him. Minhyuk knows this layer, knows it very well. Knows it because Jooheon lives carefree, but has his own dark thoughts, and sometimes he lets them out, and Minhyuk always listens. He listens as best he can, so Jooheon knows he’s not alone.

“I love you.” Minhyuk murmurs as Jooheon traces his nose with his finger. Minhyuk’s always handled his own shit, but, it seems, Jooheon is going to handle this with him. Jooheon, always a go with the flow type of dude, rushes angrily like a river during a rainstorm when it gets down to it.

“I love you more,” Jooheon cradles Minhyuk’s face with both hands and blows him a kiss. Minhyuk smiles and squirms, accidentally kicking Changkyun in the jaw. 

* * *

Minhyuk crashes at Hyungwon, Hoseok, Hyunwoo and Kihyun’s apartment for now, because even though Ali and Bruce had been more than willing to let him stay at their house in the guest room, and Jooheon's parents had expressed great concern and said Minhyuk could stay over, Minhyuk didn't want to be within spitting distance of his parents house. He really thought he'd feel like a burden sleeping on a futon at his friends house, but Hyunwoo gets chatty late at night. The first night at the apartment, Hyunwoo tells him how much of a bitch it was to move around all the time growing up; the friends he thinks about, the friends he misses. He talks about meeting Kihyun in middle school, talks about what it was like when they got braces around the same time and got made fun of for it until the popular kids also got braces, and their classmates sympathized with the cheerleaders instead of mocking them.

"Were you ever in love with Kihyun?" Minhyuk has always had a sinking suspicion. They’ve skirted around this conversation before, but now he has very little boundaries with Hyunwoo. They’re close.

Hyunwoo sighs, "No," though it sounds like there's a lot more to it. "I think… when we were younger, I could've." Yeah. Minhyuk gets that. "But Kihyunnie and I aren't romantically compatible. And being just friends makes me happier than anything."

"Hmmmmm," Minhyuk rolls on his side and stares through the darkness. Hyunwoo sleeps with the curtains pulled. It's pitch black.

"Did you ever love Changkyun?" Hyunwoo doesn't say it like he's teasing, but Minhyuk knows that he is a little.

"No. There was always a little part of me that's loved Jooheon." Minhyuk blinks, looks over where Hyunwoo’s bed is. "I know that the way I'm so protective over Changkyun can seem that way…"

"Definitely."

Minhyuk chuckles. "Yeah. But I've just… watched life throw him through the grinder. Kyun deals with a lot; his dad was a real piece of shit. Always yelling, super controlling, basically drilled every insecurity Kyun has into his skull. And then he was gone. And though Ali and Kyun were suffering _with_ him, they suffered _without_ him. And Kyun cried so much over school, and taking time off." Minhyuk can't count the amount of times he'd been there when Changkyun broke down. He can't imagine the times without him there. "And in return, Kyun just… _does_ for me. Like I love him so fucking much but its so fucking platonic but at the same time I'd rob a bank for the dumb bitch."

Changkyun will, very literally, scale the side of his house to give him a hug, Changkyun picks up the phone at three in the morning, Changkyun taught him how to drive, went to the DMV with him when his parents would not, helped him learn English when we first came to America and never once made fun of his accent. Changkyun gives so much. Minhyuk wants him to have the world.

"I get that." Hyunwoo breaks the silence very gently. He's so sweet for such an outwardly intimidating man. Minhyuk loves that about Hyunwoo, how there’s so much to him, so much tenderness, behind a mold he spent his whole life building up, trying to protect himself from all the relationships that came and went through his life. He’s not used to consistency. "Kihyun and I used to exchange emails—" Kihyun, though, was always his exception. And now Hyungwon, Hoseok, Minhyuk, Jooheon and Changkyun.

E-mails, huh? "Damn. We're old."

Hyunwoo laughs, "Now the kids FaceTime." And Minhyuk laughs, too. "But he could tell, even when I couldn't, when I was upset. Through email. I still don't know how to properly convey tone but somehow he figured it out." He has more to say, Minhyuk can just tell. So he waits.

"When he came to Boston last year. To visit, before he came to live…" Hyunwoo pauses for a breath. "We hadn't seen each other in a few years. I worried it would be awkward. But he saw me and ran through the airport and, I dunno, I can't explain how happy it made me for him to be here. And then he was crying, and it made me happy. I was so happy to see him."

"But you don't love him?"

"No. Not like that."

"Are you aromantic?" Minhyuk has no qualms with just asking things.

"No? Do I seem it?"

"I dunno." Minhyuk shrugs though he can't be seen. He hears Hyunwoo shifting in bed. "You just don't seem interested in dating."

"Not actively pursuing anything, no. But I'm not opposed to it if it found me."

Minhyuk looks through the darkness. He thinks, if there were any light, he and Hyunwoo would be looking at each other.

* * *

Hyungwon and Hoseok cook Minhyuk lunch the next day. Their parents also kicked them out. They don't talk to their families anymore. Hoseok is much more emotional about it; his eyes get watery, he says he misses his mother. Hyungwon rubs Hoseok's shoulders but shrugs, as if he didn't care. Jooheon sits with his cheek pressed against Minhyuk's shoulder and just listens, nods along.

After a moment, Minhyuk realizes that Hyungwon really doesn't think about his family anymore. It's been more than six years, and he's clearly very happy. No one needs to ask him when they can see it; how Hoseok rubs his chin when he's had a long day, and his expression melts into adoration. Their room is filled with photos of them on trips, or getting ice cream, or selfies in bed. He lives so happily, he doesn't stress over his parents.

Hyungwon says, "Their love came with terms and conditions. My love for Hoseokkie does not."

"You can be you, Minnie." Jooheon says, his fingers curling between Minhyuk's. 

Minhyuk breathes; counts _one, two, three, four, five, six, seven._

Breathes out; _one, two, three, four._

His chest unclenches, he feels the strain in his jaw now that he finally relaxes it, and he plants two feet on the floor.

He stands too quickly, because he's suddenly so much lighter.

Minhyuk’s gonna go out there and be _gay_.

* * *

Pride weekend.

Minhyuk is up at seven. When was the last time he willingly got up at seven? Never.

He gets up, showers, blow dries his hair, takes out all his makeup products and sits on the floor in front of the full-length mirror in Hyunwoo’s room. He takes out all his makeup. Even if he doesn’t think he’s going to use it. Hyunwoo wakes up to Minhyuk staring at his primer, and they make eye contact through the mirror. Hyunwoo just drops his head against the pillow and rolls over.

It takes two goddamn hours. Minhyuk has never gone so all out with his make-up; he usually sticks to neutral eyeshadows, has never touched liquid eyeliner, so he fucks that up so much, just keeps making it bigger. He slaps some green on, doesn’t know why, but ends up with a bold and bright green eyeshadow with glitter, sharp eyebrows. He contours his nose and his cheekbones, does a hell of a lot of blending and thinks _fuck it_ and goes for a gold highlight. He sits back and stares at himself in the mirror and just sits. He inspects the angle of his eyeliner, fills in a few gaps, and realizes how fucking starving he is.

Minhyuk looks like a diva. Like a high class diva, like he’s ready for the next season of RuPaul’s, like a Gay Bitch, and this is all he’s ever wanted; to express himself. To look like a fucking head-turner, to look like a man in a hell of a lot makeup. He takes a deep breath and chokes back his tears, and blushes when he sees Hyunwoo roll over at the sound. Minhyuk’s wearing so much foundation his blush isn’t visible underneath it. He stands and faces Hyunwoo, who squints, and Minhyuk laughs as Hyunwoo reaches for his glasses.

“Hold on.”

The glasses are a little crooked. Actually, as Hyunwoo sits up, Minhyuk can see they’re super crooked. Hyunwoo doesn’t usually leave the house in them.

“Gimme.” Minhyuk holds his hand out, and it takes Hyunwoo a second to realize he means the glasses. He sits up in bed as Minhyuk makes his way towards Kihyun’s room. If anyone were to have a glasses kit, it’d be Kihyun. Minhyuk has one, but it’s at home in his room. He doesn’t know when he’ll be getting it back.

Kihyun doesn’t even wear glasses, but he has a set for his sunglasses. He lifts his head to point to his dresses, and freezes. Minhyuk puffs out his chest a little, letting Kihyun just stare at him.

“Holy shit.” Kihyun looks stunned, the exact reaction Minhyuk was hoping for.

Changkyun lifts his head from underneath Kihyun’s arm. “What’s holy shit?” He squints at Minhyuk — their whole friend group is blind as fuck. Changkyun pulls on his glasses and gasps, sounds truly awed, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“Does it really look good?”

The boyfriends nod quickly.

“ _Bitch_.” Changkyun’s so cute, crawling over Kihyun to get out of bed. “Bitch you look so fucking _good_. Let me see.”

“She only took, like, two hours and a good stab in the eyeball with some liquid eyeliner.” Minhyuk angles his chin so Changkyun can see the contour, while working on Hyunwoo’s glasses.

“But did you go blind?”

“No.”

“ _So_ worth it. I’d kiss you but it’d mess it up.”

Minhyuk sees Kihyun snap his head up. Dumbass.

“He meant on my forehead, asshole.”

Kihyun relaxes back into bed.

Changkyun just laughs, looking back at Minhyuk. He’s still so excited about the makeup, Minhyuk really needed this support. He can’t wait to get sweaty in it, and take selfies, and have random strangers tell him he looks gorgeous because he is. He leaves the room feeling a thousand times more confident, hands Hyunwoo back his fixed glasses. They’re not crooked. Perfect. He looks adorable in his horn-rimmed glasses. Minhyuk had picked them out when Hyunwoo asked for his opinion on glasses online.

And Hyunwoo… looks at him. Just looks at him. Takes him in. Minhyuk likes being the center of attention, he likes having all eyes on him, like it’s a show. HE likes being loud, he likes projecting his voice outwards and hearing laughter come back to him. 

This moment isn’t a show. It’s private, just for Minhyuk. Hyunwoo, too.

Hyunwoo smiles, gentle, and Minhyuk has to pull away.

Especially since Changkyun comes into the room, waving around sequined booty shorts.

“The final touches to your look, you hot piece of ass.”

Changkyun takes a quick shower and while he’s also doing some makeup; nothing as flashy as Minhyuk, just highlight and pretty lashes, Jooheon shows up. Minhyuk wasn’t sure Jooheon was going to wear anything pride, he says he still feels unsure about the LGBTQ+ community and asexuality, and he has every right to, they’re not always the most inviting, but he’s in regular clothes, black shorts, a white tank top, and a huge ace flag hooked around his shoulders like a cape.

By this point Minhyuk has changed into his green sequin shorts, and heels. He’s wearing heels. Jooheon’s mouth drops, and Minhyuk sees the Ace Pride flag around his boyfriend’s shoulders and just wants to cry. His hands come up, wanting a hug.

“Joo baby, look at you.”

Jooheon’s mouth is open, his eyes are wide, and he stands there while Minhyuk comes in for a hug. He feels like crying all over again. Standing around in make-up and short shorts with his boyfriend wearing his own pride flag like a cape feels so _freeing_. This is who he is. Jooheon hugs him so tight, squeezes him until he’s giggling and it hurts a little, until Jooheon’s holding all his weight, and Minhyuk just laughs, happy and carefree, and Jooheon gives him a little spin.

“Wow. Who is this? My boyfriend? The love of my life? The most beautiful man in the world?” Jooheon says, and Minhyuk bites his lip. “I love you, Minnie. Your eyeliner could cut me.”

If Minhyuk could burst into confetti, it’d be rainbow colored, of course. Or the confetti from his birthday, all the little penises.

“I love you, Joo.”

Jooheon ducks in for a kiss but Minhyuk dodges — not his lipstick! And Jooheon pouts, but gets over it fairly quickly and screams,

“Look at my hot boyfriend! Look at him!!” And Minhyuk laughs, gripping Jooheon’s hand. Jooheon lets go of his hand to wrap his arms around his waist and lift him, Minhyuk screaming as Jooheon runs with him through the apartment.

Hyungwon goes all out — lashes, a long wig that melts from black to pink, falls beautifully over his face, and a dress, a yellow midi dress that's the only acceptable shade of yellow, that looks summery and fun with his pink hair. Minhyuk gapes, and Hyungwon stands in the hallway in heels, too, knowing that everyone needs a moment to take him in.

Kihyun almost walks right into him getting out of his room, has to stop and crane his neck back, mouth ajar and eyes wide.

Then he snaps to it and goes, “Fuck this. Minhyuk, put some glitter on my face. Give me lipstick.”

Hyungwon spins, his pink curls bouncing in the air. “Let me put lashes on you.”

“Okay, put lashes on me.” Kihyun says and Changkyun seems to just materialize behind him, vibrating with excitement at the thought of his boyfriend in makeup.

* * *

The Pride parade lives up to everything Minhyuk expected. People are dancing, singing, strangers are telling him he’s beautiful, there are flags from all over the world, other aces that grin at Jooheon, give him a hug, are super excited and happy about his relationship, and Minhyuk is so, so excited to meet everyone, to let a stranger stamp a rainbow on his forehead. Someone gives Kihyun a bi flag, and he buffers for a second, doesn’t know what to do with it, until Changkyun smiles at him and takes him by the elbow, lifts it high into the air, and Kihyun looks like he has a whole epiphany because of the little flag.

Minhyuk knows, that despite Kihyun being so outwardly (and internally) confident, despite taking his bisexual awakening very well for someone from his culture and country, really struggled to be open about it. He treaded carefully with Changkyun, pushed and pulled, doubted Changkyun’s sincerity, and confided in Minhyuk once to tell him that being with someone so out and proud made him nervous. Today, he let Hyungwon put flirty lashes on him and give him a pretty pink highlight, and though he seems so cool and collected, right before they got out of the car, Minhyuk caught Kihyun staring at himself in the mirror, looking a little frightened.

But Changkyun had taken his hand and called him gorgeous and kissed him, and Minhyuk saw Kihyun relax.

All worries, all doubts, fly out the window once they’re in the parade.

This isn’t Changkyun’s first time, nor is it Hyungwon or Hoseok’s, and the couples hold hands the entire day, Hyungwon with a gay pride flag, Hoseok with a trans flag. Minhyuk watches them, how Hoseok’s eyes light up in Hyungwon’s direction, and he hopes Jooheon still looks at him like that when they’re six years in, too.

“You’re…” Minhyuk looks at Hyunwoo’s plain outfit, jean shorts and a Modelo-branded tank top. He actually doesn’t look as out of place as Minhyuk thought he would. There are lots of bear gays hanging around.

Hyunwoo falls back into step next to him and Jooheon. “I’m what?”

Minhyuk is taller than Hyunwoo in these heels. It’s very weird. “You’re gay, right? Like, like just a gay?”

“Oh my god, Minnie.” Jooheon laughs.

“Yeah.” Hyunwoo laughs, too. “Just a gay.”

Minhyuk looks at Changkyun and Kihyun, looks like Changkyun got the hang of walking in heels, his ass looks delicious in those purple sequin shorts, and Hyungwon and Hoseok look so good together, as always. And then he looks at Hyunwoo, feels something so soft wrap around his heart. Hyunwoo, handsome and soft and so sweet, telling strangers he loves their hair, or they’re a cute couple. He’s like an excited puppy, wanting to take everything in at once and make sure everyone’s having a good time.

Hyunwoo ends up between Jooheon and Minhyuk, Minhyuk with an arm hung loosely around his broad shoulders, and Minhyuk notices Jooheon reach down and hold Hyunwoo’s hand. Their fingers interlace, and Minhyuk looks ahead. He spots a woman with extra rainbow flags and unlatches from Hyunwoo to ask for one. The woman smiles at him, her long hair painted all colors of the rainbow. It looks so cool.

“Of course! Want one for your boyfriends, too?” She notices the ace flag hanging from Jooheon’s shoulders, extends two flags instead of three, and goes, “Oh, nice. You three are so cute.”

Minhyuk looks back, sees Hyunwoo and Jooheon still holding hands, thanks the lady, and hobbles back over to the two. He gives the second flag to Hyunwoo, who just beams. And Minhyuk’s heart does a funny thing, and he looks to Jooheon, and it keeps doing the funny thing. The same funny thing it always does when he looks at Jooheon and gets overwhelmed with love for him.

The sun beats down on the back of his neck, someone’s blasting EDM, and Hyunwoo looks like he belongs between Minhyuk and Jooheon.

* * *

They all make the big mistake of finding a bench and sitting. Changkyun makes a croaking noise and folds himself in half, chest to his knees, and then lets out a loud wail. Then he's silent. Doesn't move. Kihyun just rubs his back, looks super sympathetic.

"Only take your heels off when you get home." Hyungwon says for the thousandth time.

"Why did you three decide to wear heels?" Hyunwoo wore sneakers. They bitched at him for dressing like a straight dude to Pride but he's the one with the big brain and they're the ones all full of regret. Minhyuk is sure if he lifts his foot it would pop right off at the ankle and nothing would feel better. At least Changkyun wore booties with a thicker heel, Minhyuk thinks that means there's better support than this stiletto bullshit he and Hyungwon are suffering through. They really put these on this morning and thought _ah, yes, what a great idea_. He slumps against Hyungwon and lets out a sob.

"My feet hurt so bad." Minhyuk might start crying.

"I think I have a pimple on my face." Kihyun pokes at his cheek, then his eye. "When can I take these lashes off?"

"Whenever the fuck you want, unless you want all your eyeshadow and eyeliner ruined." Hyungwon looks down at his nails and Minhyuk realizes he's lost one.

"How do women do this all the time?" Changkyun sits up, groans. "I'm never walking again."

"Do we want to get food at a diner?" Hoseok looks around. This asshole also wore sneakers.

"We're going out in public public like this?" Changkyun groans, and Kihyun reaches over to fix some of his lipstick that smudged on his lip.

"It's Pride weekend, I'm sure no ones gonna be surprised by some dudes in heels and makeup wanting pancakes at 10 o'clock at night." Hoseok still has a little pep in his voice what the fuck. Minhyuk wants to cry. He's so sore.

“Can’t we take the food to go?” Jooheon whines, and Minhyuk throws his arms around Jooheon and cradles his face and kisses his cheek.

“Honey you’re so smart, the biggest brain here. How do you keep all that brain in your skull?”

“I have to take it out every night to recharge it.” Jooheon responds, and Minhyuk covers his face in kisses.

They call ahead, place a really big order, and every time Hoseok tells the employee they have another item to add to the order he apologizes. This diner is definitely going to hate them. But the food is good, and Hyunwoo, who only ended up with glitter in his hair and doesn’t look like he just walked out of an episode of RuPaul’s drag race, goes inside to get the food. It smells so good, and Minhyuk cradles the warm food to his chest and holds. He hasn’t eaten since nine that morning, it’s past nine at night.

No one really makes it to the couch. They sit around the living on the floor and eat their food in absolute silence. Just vibes all around.

“How are we showering?” Kihyun asks quietly.

Minhyuk shoves the last part of his burger and glances around. Not his house, not his decision.

“Hyunwoo first, then the rest of us two at a time,” Hyungwon still has his wig on. Bless him. “You and Kyunnie, me and Seokkie, Min and Joo.”

“I’m staying?” Jooheon perks his head up, but can’t keep his fries out of his mouth.

“We don’t expect you to drive home.” Hoseok gets to his feet, starts working on taking his boyfriend’s wig off while Hyungwon nods and shoves his panini in his mouth. Cute. They’re so cute, the way they wordlessly just do for each other. Minhyuk believes that Hyungwon and Hoseok can actually read each other’s minds. Sometimes they just look at each other and it appears they’re having a whole conversation. These two just ebb together, trust and love so openly.

They went from friends to boyfriends, they’ve known each other for as long as Minhyuk and Jooheon have known each other, and watching how they interact makes Minhyuk so happy. He knows he and Jooheon have a bond that goes beyond what Changkyun and Kihyun have, no offense to them. They’re really good, like, Minhyuk just finds himself amazed at how Kihyun and Changkyun balance; their lives, experiences, opinions, thoughts and personalities; the way they let their guard down around each other. He sees how they grow, how Changkyun has grown more confident in himself, how Kihyun learns to enjoy smaller things, stops thinking of the future so much, and grows more confident in his sexual orientation expression. Opposites attract, but when there ends up being more opposite than overlapping, the relationship isn’t strong. It’ll break. Changkyun and Kihyun are so opposite, but have more common interests than not, and that’s what makes them so strong.

If Minhyuk thinks about it, he thinks that knowing Jooheon for so long is what makes him love Jooheon so much. They knew each other in high school, and while some people would think that makes them more like family, makes them unable to see each other in a romantic light, like Changkyun is to Jooheon and Minhyuk, Minhyuk thinks that’s actually why he loves Jooheon. He knows who Jooheon used to be, watched Jooheon turn into who he is now, and Minhyuk can recount those milestones in Jooheon’s life because he was there for most of them. Jooheon, who's a bundle of joy, but has inner struggles. Jooheon, who needs reassuring. Jooheon, who holds Minhyuk's hand, gives Minhyuk space as he navigates whatever the fuck his life is now that he's disowned, but is still _right here_. 

Minhyuk leans against Jooheon, just closes his eyes and _feels_ that Jooheon’s next to him. That’s it. At the end of today, at the end of these hellish few days, Jooheon’s here, loving and supporting him, while they sit in a room after Pride with a bunch of other dudes wearing super flashy outfits. What more does he need?

Hyunwoo takes a shower first, makes a beeline to his room and Changkyun and Kihyun go next while Hyungwon works on removing most of his make-up in his room. Minhyuk hooks his jaw over Jooheon’s shoulder, watches as Hoseok makes his way back into the living room, hunches over in front of the couch, and pushes.

“Hyung, what are you doing?” Jooheon opens his milkshake and angles it towards Minhyuk, so Minhyuk can get the cherry and the whipped cream on top.

“We can pull the futon out of Hyunwoo-hyung’s room and you two can sleep here. This way you guys have, like, some kind of privacy.”

“I’ll help you move the futon, hyung.” Jooheon gets to his feet and hands his milkshake over to Minhyuk, rethinks it, and puts it on the coffee table, out of Minhyuk’s reach. Minhyuk can only laugh. That’s fair. Jooheon knows him all too well.

By the time they get out the futon, the shower opens up for Hyungwon and Hoseok, and they disappear.

“I hope there’s enough hot water for us.” Jooheon helps Minhyuk fix up the blankets and pillows. “This was really nice of them to let me stay.”

“Of course they let you stay, they love you.” Minhyuk jumps over the bed and grabs Jooheon by the face, kissing him. “ _I_ love you.”

“I love you.” Jooheon smushes their faces together. “Are you excited to take all that makeup off?”

“I want to peel this shit off.” Minhyuk has been dying to exfoliate his skin for hours. He wants to scrub the beads into his face until he bleeds.

Once the bathroom is free he does just that, scrubs furiously with some of Hyungwon’s make-up removing oil, uses a cleaner, a face wash, and Jooheon has to tell him to go easy when he finally gets the exfoliator in his hands. They take a quick shower - another reason Jooheon and Minhyuk are perfect for each other, they shower at the same water temperature. Minhyuk throws out all shame and really scrubs himself down, he’s sweating from places he’s never sweated from before. They blow dry their hair, brush their teeth, everyone says good nights, and immediately head to their rooms. Minhyuk crashes onto the futon and whines as Jooheon climbs over him, kissing him all over his shoulder and neck.

“I love you I love you I love you,” Jooheon whispers, hands tickling Minhyuk’s sides. He giggles and swats Jooheon away.

“I love you too. Come here.”

Jooheon snuggles in close. Minhyuk throws a leg over his waist and holds onto him dearly.

“I’m so happy we got to do this today.”

“Mh-hm,” Jooheon rubs a circle onto Minhyuk’s lower back with his thumb. “I know you’ve wanted to do this for years.”

“I was always so afraid.” Minhyuk doesn’t really know where his thoughts go.

“Because of your mom and dad, yeah,” Jooheon knows where they go, though. “You held back for so long. You’re so strong, Minnie.”

“I don’t know why I just... _walked_ away.”

He doesn’t know what he’s listening for, but he listens.

“It was about time.” Jooheon says quietly. “This whole situation really sucks, but you were so miserable there, Minnie. I worried about you, a lot. And you'd say it was okay, but you weren't You weren't happy." Minhyuk frowns and buries his face into Jooheon's face. "You’re so much more than whoever that was they forced you to be. You're amazing. You have the biggest heart and you deserve to get back all the love you give and I love you so, so much." Jooheon buries his face into Minhyuk's hair. "You deserve to be as happy and open about it everyday. Just not today. You know that, right? You deserve to be happy. Everyday."

Minhyuk closes his eyes and holds on tighter. “You make me happy, my honey.”

“And whatever else makes you happy makes me happy, too. You know I love and support you.”

Minhyuk thinks all the bullshit he’s been through, Jooheon is the universe’s trade.

Today has been so much, and Minhyuk kisses Jooheon, feeling all of it, receiving all of it back. Jooheon never forgets to let him know he’s loved. Jooheon never forgets to tell Minhyuk he should be happy. Jooheon, his pillar, Jooheon, his light.

Jooheon kisses him like they have all the time in the world, like nothing else matters, like he’s all Jooheon is focusing on; the feel of his lips, the taste of mint in his mouth, the curves of his body that Jooheon should have memorised by now, but runs his hands all over as if it were the first time all over again. And Minhyuk feels like he could explode, right up against Jooheon. He touches Jooheon’s chest, runs his hand over his sides, rolls them over so he can get on top, settle on top of Jooheon and just look down at him, the moonlight making him all soft and blue and a little shy. Minhyuk runs his hands through Jooheon’s soft hair, shivers as goosebumps roll over his skin as Jooheon runs his hands tenderly up his sides. He can see the sharp rise and fall of Jooheon’s chest, feel that Jooheon’s getting hard underneath him. And Minhyuk purses his lips, breathes for a second.

“I definitely saw lube in the bathroom.”

Jooheon purses his lips, nods slowly. “Are we really gonna borrow our friends community lube and have sex in their living room?”

Minhyuk blinks down at him. “I think we’re really going to borrow our friends community lube and have sex in their living room.”

He tip toes down the hall, past all the bedrooms, and tries to keep an ear out for anything, anything that would warn him that anyone’s awake. He doesn’t want to put his ear against any doors because, well, if someone were awake and noticed that’d be weird, and Minhyuk being fine with his friends talking about their sex lives doesn’t mean he wants to accidentally hear it, in case there’s any of that going on.

“We have to put it back before we go to sleep.” Minhyuk whispers, and sees that Jooheon took the towel he used earlier to lay on the bed. “You’re so smart, my honey.”

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Jooheon murmurs as Minhyuk leans in to kiss him.

Minhyuk holds out the bottle of lube. It’s as big as his hand. “I can’t believe these horny bastards keep this in the bathroom.”

Jooheon has had enough of the conversation, he pulls Minhyuk in, a little hurriedly, open mouthed and wet, and Minhyuk has to keep it down. Jooheon holds him, pulls him in, and Minhyuk shivers as Jooheon’s large palms run over his back and pull him in. Jooheon’s hands feel so good on him.

They pull each other’s pants and boxers off, Minhyuk pulls the sheets over them and makes sure to strategically place their clothing in a pile on the floor right next to them, in case they need to be reached quickly. Jooheon gets on top of him, slips between his legs, and this is probably the safest position — what are they doing? Neither of them are really this adventurous — but it’s still… Minhyuk wants something else. They rarely get to be alone, and so many months into their relationship have only had the chance to actually fuck a few times. Minhyuk feels new and he really wants to ride Jooheon, cowboy or cowgirl, doesn't care, but that’d be hard to break apart from if someone got up. He looks up at Jooheon, blushes as Jooheon shifts, spreads his legs so Jooheon can reach between his legs and touch a wet finger to his entrance.

“What are you thinking, beautiful?” Jooheon asks lowly, and Minhyuk’s body flares up. Beautiful? Damn.

Minhyuk’s eyes flutter as Jooheon slides a finger in, wet and easy. Minhyuk loves Jooheon’s hands, loves how gentle Jooheon is.

“I don’t wanna do it missionary.” Minhyuk whispers, gripping Jooheon’s shoulder as Jooheon works a finger in and out of him. Minhyuk wishes they could skip this and get right to the fucking.

“Um,” Jooheon drips in and kisses Minhyuk’s neck. He takes his time, knows where to press his lips that has Minhyuk melting, despite another finger sliding up his ass. Minhyuk’s brain fries out, and then Jooheon whispers next to his ear,

“Wanna lie on your side? I’ll fuck you from behind.”

Jooheon is not a dirty talker, and Minhyuk isn’t into it, he knows his friends (Changkyun and Kihyun) say shit to each other in bed and Minhyuk doesn’t think he handle do that, but hearing Jooheon suggest something makes him really excited, and his dick, that started to go limp, reacts excitedly. He arches his neck back as Jooheon nibbles on his earlobe.

“Yeah. Let’s.” He blinks up at the ceiling, listens through the silence for any signs that someone's awake in the apartment. “Let’s do that.”

Always so slow, always so careful, Jooheon fingers Minhyuk until he says he's ready, and they twist under the sheets, lay back to front, and Minhyuk arches his lower back, lifts his leg so Jooheon can push into him from behind, slow until they're spooning, and Jooheon feels so deep.

Minhyuk sighs, tips his head to the side and gives in to Jooheon’s kisses down his neck. Jooheon slides his hand up Minhyuk's stomach, cups around his chest, and breathes against his shoulder for a minute. He slides his other arm under Minhyuk’s head, curls his arm around him, and Minhyuk tips his head to the side, nuzzling Jooheon's bicep. He smells so clean. Minhyuk could drown in him. Minhyuk wants to drown in him; his honey, the love of his life.

"Joo, I'm okay." He whispers, reaching back to find and cup Jooheon's face against his palm. Jooheon kisses his palm, snuggles into it, and rolls his hips.

They start slow, soft breaths and short thrusts, Minhyuk holding onto Jooheon. Sex between them is usually fun, and chatty, they're not embarrassed with each other, always waited for moments when they're alone in the house. But this time they have to be quiet. They can't make a single noise, and Minhyuk can't believe he's kind of excited by it.

Jooheon reaches for the corner of the futon, and Minhyuk closes his eyes, spreads his legs wider and grips the sheets in a ball, and Jooheon starts fucking him harder. Faster. Minhyuk clings, throws his head back and Jooheon buries his face in Minhyuk’s neck. He's holding onto the bed for leverage to fuck harder and that's really hot, and Minhyuk clamps a hand over his mouth and whines.

"Shhh, Minnie," Jooheon rolls his hips, whispers into his ear, and Minhyuk trembles. His body shakes when Jooheon ruts against his sensitive spot, and Minhyuk pushes back against him, voice wavering against his palm. And Jooheon grinds against him, squeezes his hip, Jooheon's hands feel so heavy on his dick, Jooheon nuzzles into the back of his neck, presses his thumb against the slit of Minhyuk’s dick and slides right against his prostate, and Minhyuk squeezes his eyes shut and comes. He feels himself tense, tighten around Jooheon, and gasps when Jooheon pulls out, fast and awkward, to come over the towel.

Minhyuk gulps for a breath and sits up. His thighs are shaking. He twists onto his side and pushes a hand through Jooheon's sweaty hair.

"You know what I didn't think of?"

Jooheon takes a deep breath, still working on evening it out. He doesn't open his eyes, but he hums in acknowledgement.

"This isn't our towel."

Now Jooheon's eyes fly open. He glances down— right. They borrowed this.

"Oh, fuck."

"How do we…" Minhyuk looks down at it, covered in their come. "How do we explain this?"

"We don't have to be…"

 _Embarrassed_. Jooheon was about to say 'embarrassed' but Minhyuk knows they're both not as open as the others are about their sex life. And they fucked in the living on a bed that isn't even theirs. Minhyuk can't believe it. Who are they?

"Should we text Kyun?"

Minhyuk frowns. "He'd tell Kihyun. And Kihyun would get mad."

Jooheon pulls the towel out from under them and groans. "Why are we so gross."

"I think…" Minhyuk's gut twists. He doesn't know why thinking of Hyunwoo makes him nervous. "I think Hyunwoo-hyung would be the chillest over this."

"Or I can just shove this towel in my bag and I'll wash it at home."

Minhyuk shoves the image of Hyunwoo out of his head. He doesn't know where his brain is going with that. So he focuses on what's important: their shameful towel issue.

The towel goes all balled up in Jooheon's bag and Minhyuk puts the lube back and they both put their clothes back on, sneak into bed, and curl around each other.

"Does this mean we're into voyeurism?"

Jooheon chokes back a laugh. "I don't… think so…?"

No one says anything about the towel in the morning. They’re all distracted with:

Kihyun yelling across the apartment at nine. “Kyun get up!”

“No!”

“Yes! You have a dentist appointment in an hour!”

Jooheon lifts his head and Minhyuk pulls the blankets off his face, peering across the room. He’s about to scream for them to _shut up_ , people are sleeping, but he catches onto the gist of the argument and starts laughing, because Changkyun is standing in the middle of the living room rubbing at his face, wearing just a pair of boxers — are those little gay hearts? 

“I have a what?”

Kihyun is standing in the entrance to the kitchen. Minhyuk can’t believe he has a front-row seat to this.

“A dentist appointment.”

Changkyun blinks tiredly at Kihyun. “Since when?”

“Since I scheduled it for you.” Kihyun taps his foot. “Let’s go.”

“Oh my god,” Jooheon mumbles, and laughs as Changkyun looks confusedly in their direction, then sulks back to Kihyun’s room to get ready for this surprise dentist appointment.

“Dumbass hasn’t been to the dentist in like, three years.” Kihyun moves around the living room, picking up the mess of take out containers and napkins left over from the night before, and Minhyuk’s almost in tears.

“You really scheduled him a dentist appointment? This isn’t code for something else?” Jooheon laughs.

Kihyun shakes his head. “Nope, it’s a dentist’s appointment.”

“Are you his mom?” Jooheon laughs, but Minhyuk isn’t anymore.

“Someone’s gotta take care of him.” Kihyun smiles a little, and notices Minhyuk got quiet. Minhyuk’s just looking at him. Minhyuk thinks of all the times Changkyun crashed, all the times he broke down into tears, all the times he neglected his own needs to care for Minhyuk or Jooheon, or picked up extra hours at work to help his mom with bills. Changkyun needed someone to help him a little, nudge him in the direction of self care, someone that would sit him the fuck down when he started moving too fast. Minhyuk and Jooheon do what they can, especially Minhyuk, he’s so much more willing to yell at Changkyun than Jooheon is, but the way Kihyun does it is different from the way Minhyuk and Jooheon do. And Kihyun does it willingly and out of love. Minhyuk’s so grateful.

“Thanks for looking out for him.” Minhyuk says, and even Jooheon has settled down, looking fondly at Kihyun.

“Yeah.” Kihyun looks down the hall to where Changkyun is moving from the bedroom to the bathroom, fully dressed. “I guess I love him, or whatever.”

(Jooheon manages to smuggle the towel home, wash it, bring it back a few days later and tuck it into the cabinet in the bathroom and no one suspects a thing.)

* * *

Hyunwoo works from home three days a week, goes in for meetings and client meet ups two days a week. It's great for Minhyuk, who's about to start working part-time at Waterfront, because if he's not annoying the fuck out of Changkyun at the restaurant, he's home pestering Hyunwoo, and being with Hyunwoo settles him right the fuck in.

It’s only day five of being in the apartment, two days after Pride, and Minhyuk makes himself right at home. It helps that he’s so damn comfortable with Hyunwoo, and that he gets along with the other three so well, and they don’t make him feel like he’s in the way or overstaying a welcome. They actually add him into the roommates group chat, and tell him to stay as long as he needs. That makes Minhyuk feel really good, he thinks he and Changkyun don’t have to push their spring apartment plans up too far.

Minhyuk has today off, he starts at Waterfront tomorrow, and he’s super excited to work in a restaurant. He imagines it’s so much fun, and fast-paced, and he’ll meet cool people. Sometimes celebrities go through. He wants a celebrity to tip him a thousand dollars. That’d help him out so much. He would tuck it all away and save it for rent money, because he knows after a few weeks he’s going to be expected to chip in. For now, he assumes he can cook dinner and help clean up around the apartment as compensation.

Minhyuk stands behind Hyunwoo at his desk, scans over the reports that he doesn't even want to begin to understand, and reaches for Hyunwoo's head. He doesn't think about it, just does it, gives Hyunwoo a good scalp massage. And Hyunwoo, full bodied, melts back into his chair and leans back, closes his eyes, and sighs.

"Feel good?" Minhyuk asks, hands moving down to his neck. Hyunwoo makes a crying noise. It’s so cute. So Minhyuk digs his fingers into his shoulders, and now Hyunwoo slumps forward.

"This feels _so_ good."

Minhyuk smiles and leans forward, but just as he's placing his lips to the crown of Hyunwoo's head he freezes, pulls back, and wonders what the fuck he's doing. He zones out, keeps his fingers massaging into Hyunwoo's neck, tries not to visibly freak out at how domestic that was.

"I'm gonna make dinner." Minhyuk frowns. That just makes it even worse. He slinks off to the kitchen and shakes off his nerves.

It's either Hoseok, who has a pretty irregular schedule, or Kihyun, who never stays a minute past four at work, that come home first. Minhyuk already has spices and vegetables simmering a pot when Kihyun comes home. Kihyun presses up against Minhyuk’s side and looks down in the pan.

“What’cha making?”

“Chicken, vegetables. Some rice.”

“Smells good.” Kihyun rests his head on Minhyuk’s shoulder and Minhyuk bumps his head. It’s some weird greeting, apparently, because Kihyun moves away, satisfied.

“Today sucked, coming home to this is so exciting.”

Minhyuk laughs. “Does no one else cook dinner?”

“Sometimes. If I don’t.”

“What sucked at work?”

Kihyun hangs around and complains. It’s mostly about coworkers, an incompetent supervisor, not enough staff. It sounds like regular workplace bullshit, though that doesn’t give Kihyun any less a reason to be so upset. It all sounds so frustrating, as Kihyun lists through a to do list full of tasks Minhyuk could probably never do. He doesn’t know what half the shit means, but listens along as Kihyun says how he’s just being pushed to sit next to his useless supervisor all day, pick up the tasks the man swears he knows how to do. And then doesn’t do.

"They're so training you to replace him." Minhyuk holds out the wooden spoon and Kihyun's expression lights up.

"He's only, like, thirty….?" Kihyun chews on the chicken, thinking with a loud _hmmm_ , "Thirty-six? Thirty-seven? Where's he going?"

"Anywhere that clears up his position for you." Minhyuk stirs the pot of soup while Kihyun checks his phone. Minhyuk thinks that all the signs point to Kihyun getting a promotion. Kihyun doesn’t seem to want to believe it, so he changes the subject.

"Kyunnie's coming."

"Date night?"

Kihyun huffs, "Maybe? They're doing a movie in the park… somewhere. I’m not familiar with this place.” Kihyun turns the phone to Minhyuk so he can see the town name.

“That’s like, an hour from here.”

Kihyun makes a face like he really doesn’t want to drive a whole hour for a movie. “They're playing Dracula.” He sighs, accepting his fate. “I'm gonna take a shower."

"Bye-bye," Minhyuk mumbles as Kihyun leaves, and Hyunwoo comes in, a headband keeping his hair back. Adorable. "Hello! Wanna taste?"

Hyunwoo's hand slips to his waist, and Minhyuk spills a spoonful of soup to the floor. He stumbles back, surprised by his reaction to Hyunwoo's touch.

"Uh, sorry."

"No, it's fine. Are you okay?" Hyunwoo's large frame fills Minhyuk's vision, and his hands come up to take the spoon from Minhyuk, wipe off where some broth splashed over Minhyuk’s wrist. It wasn't a lot, it didn't hurt. Minhyuk pulls his hands away and steps back, avoiding Hyunwoo's gaze, heartbeat pounding in his ears, trying to tell him something.

Minhyuk would consider himself an observant person; he pays attention to people, especially when they think he isn’t. Over the past few months, he’s observed how much time Jooheon spends with Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo hangs out regularly with them, and Minhyuk does his best to not make Hyunwoo feel like a third wheel, like he does with Changkyun, or anyone else in the group when it ends up being him, Jooheon, and another person. But it's usually him, Jooheon and Hyunwoo. Like at Pride. That was when he finally noticed it, and that was when he noticed it looked normal.

Changkyun is usually with them, too. Though it's not the same. It's not… the same. And Minhyuk doesn't know how to put that into words. He doesn't know how to make sense of it. He doesn’t know what there is to make sense of.

Something fizzy bursts in Minhyuk's chest when Jooheon comes into the apartment. Minhyuk rushes into his arms, yelling excitedly, and Jooheon just laughs and catches him, swaying him and kissing his cheek.

"Hi, Minnie."

"Hi, my honey." Minhyuk plants a wet kiss on his cheek.

Jooheon kisses him on the lips and Minhyuk lets go, feeling much, much better.

"Hey, hyung!" Jooheon grins, and moves in to give Hyunwoo a huge hug. Jooheon isn’t a small guy, but he becomes tiny in Hyunwoo’s arms. Hyunwoo really swallows him up in his arms.

"Hello, Joo." Hyunwoo's hand slides against Jooheon's waist. Casual. Not something either of them think about.

But Minhyuk thinks about it. He thinks about it a lot. He thinks he’s missing something.

When Jooheon came out as ace to Minhyuk the poor boy had been a mess. He said he had something important to say, got teary eyed and shaky so Minhyuk held his hands, and then Jooheon asked him on a date and Minhyuk felt thunderstruck and then Jooheon said he's ace and it'd been one of the most intense and confusing moments of Minhyuk's life.

His relationship with Jooheon is intense. He doesn't know how to explain it. Him realizing he loves Jooheon when he thought Jooheon was straight? Intensely numbing. Him realizing Jooheon loves him? Intensely freeing. Him realizing Hyunwoo is a regular part of his day because he wants Hyunwoo there, because he likes Hyunwoo —

— Oh.

Oh fuck.

* * *

They’ve moved the futon back into Hyunwoo’s room. It’s easier this way; Minhyuk’s not taking up space in the living room, he doesn’t have to worry about being woken up when Kihyun gets up, the poor dude leaves the earliest out of everyone, is out the door at six-fifteen. Minhyuk wakes up around the same time Hyunwoo does, a little before nine. And Minhyuk can stay in bed and watch videos on his phone and not worry about bothering Hyunwoo because he’s really just replying to emails and pulling reports for the first half of his day.

After dinner, Minhyuk goes to the bedroom and doesn’t even care that he leaves Jooheon and Hyunwoo behind in the kitchen. He needs to be left alone with his thoughts.

Though all he gets is like five seconds, because Jooheon goes after him.

"Move over." Jooheon digs his fingers into Minhyuk's side. There's not really anywhere Minhyuk can roll over to, so he just stares up at Jooheon, and laughs when Jooheon plops on top of him. He wraps around him and closes his eyes and accepts the dozen kisses Jooheon drops all over his face, and they untangle shyly as Hyunwoo comes in. Minhyuk's head spins with too many new thoughts.

Hyunwoo leaves the room a second later, and Jooheon sits on the side of the bed. "Should I... Go?"

"I don't want you to." Minhyuk curls up around Jooheon and holds him by his waist. He's only been here barely a week, but this is the longest he's gone without cuddling Jooheon all night. Now he gets why Changkyun and Kihyun are so gross and cute. Waking up next to the love of his life makes his day infinitely better. And with his realization today, he wants to hold Jooheon really fucking close.

Jooheon looks over his shoulder, but Minhyuk hooks his chin there, kisses the side of Jooheon's face and clings a little tighter. He wants Jooheon here. He really wants Jooheon here. Jooheon, the love of his life.

"I love you, my honey." He suddenly worries that he says it too much.

"I love you too." Jooheon leans back into the cling of Minhyuk's arms. "I just feel bad, like this is their house, hyung had been super great about you sleeping here, maybe we shouldn’t be all kissy in front of him."

Minhyuk nods. He thinks about how Jooheon leaned into Hyunwoo earlier, close enough for a kiss, and digs that thought down. "Maybe I can go to your house tonight? I miss you.”

Jooheon glances to the door, then turns and gives Minhyuk a peck. But it's not enough. Minhyuk maneuvers to sit on Jooheon's lap, smiling a little at the red that tinges his cheeks.

"My cute little honey." He coos, cupping Jooheon's face, squishing his cheeks.

"We _just_ said— "

Minhyuk kisses him. Jooheon's hands fall to his waist, loose. And Minhyuk knows. Minhyuk knows what they just said, but Jooheon is looking at his lips and they’re a very touchy couple and Minhyuk misses him. Minhyuk truly misses Jooheon when he’s not around. He kisses Jooheon, softly at first. Jooheon pushes forward for another kiss. And then they're kissing, and Minhyuk's arms are around Jooheon's neck and Jooheon's holding onto his waist and Minhyuk loves that, loves that Jooheon's hands start all sweet and innocent on his waist, and eventually end up on his ass. Jooheon seems a little distracted.

Jooheon has made it very clear that though he's ace, he's not _not_ into sex. At first he thought it could've been the case, it's not something he thinks about often, but when he’s horny, Minhyuk gets the dick of a lifetime. Besides, foreplay with Jooheon is fun. And Minhyuk would say, on a sex drive scale of normal to ChangKi, he falls more on the normal end. Jooheon does, too. And that works out so well for them. And the more and more he thinks about how compatible he and Jooheon are, how lucky he is to have this man in his life, how absolutely amazing Jooheon is to him, even in the middle of his parents' bullshit, Minhyuk feels a lot. He realizes he never wants to let this go.

Right now though, there's a heat under his skin, Jooheon makes a little whimpering noise against his lips, and Minhyuk pushes Jooheon back a little. Jooheon pushes a little around him, and Minhyuk gets hotter when he feels Jooheon's arms wrap tighter around him, holding him, and Minhyuk moans as Jooheon lifts him and twists, dropping him onto the futon and crawling over him.

Fuck that's hot that's so hot. Minhyuk grabs for Jooheon's shirt and yanks him down, but Jooheon stops. Looks right the fuck through Minhyuk, and Minhyuk freaks out a little.

"What's wrong, Minnie?"

And the door swings open and Jooheon screams a little, moving away and kneeling and he and Minhyuk stare at the door, at Hyunwoo, whose eyes are everywhere. On them. And Minhyuk's gut douses in cold water.

"I can… leave." Hyunwoo takes a step back, but Jooheon gets to his feet, off the bed, laughing nervously.

"No, no. It's fine."

Hyunwoo makes eye contact with Minhyuk. And it's hazy. And trails down Minhyuk's body, who’s still sprawled on the futon, legs open. Hyunwoo’s gaze falls to Minhyuk’s crotch. A little lightbulb goes off in Minhyuk’s head.

_Oh._

* * *

"You do the kinky shit."

Kihyun makes a face, French fry halfway to his mouth. "Is this why you invited me out to eat? I'll go home."

Hyungwon is laughing until Minhyuk hones in on him, too. "And you do the kinky shit."

"I'm not as bad as this one." Hyungwon points at Kihyun, who tries to stab him with a fork.

"How do you know… when it's…" Minhyuk sighs, trying to make sense of the shit he's trying to make sense of. Why's his brain like this? "When it's…" he leans back in his chair and rubs at his face. Ugh. "When you and Hoseok-hyung asked Kihyun-hyung to a threesome how did you know it was just a one time thing? Versus a 'hey maybe we could also date him' thing?"

Kihyun pales, then gets a little red. Hyungwon looks very much speechless, mouth hanging a little open. They look at each other, Kihyun scratches awkwardly at the back of his head.

"Um. Well. All my hook-ups were…" Kihyun kind of looks like he's struggling. Cute, that he apparently spills his guts to Changkyun but has a hard time saying shit to other people. Real cute relationship shit. Props to them.

"They don't really mean anything to you." Hyungwon shrugs, then frowns, like he knows how awful that sounds. Hyungwon, though, doesn't bother to really work on fixing it, because no matter how much he struggles to make that sound less dickish, it's still true.

“I don’t mean anything to you?” Kihyun glares at Hyungwon.

“Not like,” Hyungwon makes a gawky motion with his hands and shoulders. “Romantically. But yeah if it were cool Hoseok and I would have sex with you. Or either of you.” He looks at Minhyuk. “Or any of you. But it’d be a one-time thing. Just physical.”

Kihyun narrows his gaze. “Not sure that saved it.”

Hyungwon puts his head in his hands. “Oh my god I’m a slut.”

That saves it, because Kihyun and Minhyuk both laugh, and, somehow, Minhyuk’s head clears up a little.

* * *

He goes to Jooheon. Like a good boyfriend should do.

Minhyuk does it, though, by interrupting a really nice afternoon. They're in a coffee shop, sitting out on a small patio, definitely feeling the sun by now. Jooheon was smart and got an iced coffee, Minhyuk is rethinking his hot chocolate, and thinking a lot about how Hyunwoo fits into their little duo so well they're like a combined package.

"Do you wanna try? It's rose. I feel so classy." Jooheon slides his cup across the little table.

"Do you like Hyunwoo-hyung?"

Jooheon stiffens up, and Minhyuk realizes his inquiry came across as an accusation. He sits up and relaxes a little, curling in on himself when a breeze comes by. He needs to fix this because Jooheon looks a little frightened, totally caught off guard by the attack.

"Things are weird between the three of us. Almost… couple-y. If you're not with me or Kyun, or with both of us, you're with him. Which is fine, I know you've been getting closer with Hyungwon-ah and Hoseok-hyung, too. I'm not jealous. And I love you and I trust you." Bless Jooheon for being so patient and such a good listener. Minhyuk thinks that if this were turned around, he would’ve gotten defensive by now. This would’ve turned into an argument. He needs Jooheon in his life like he needs the sun. "But things are…”

What?

"Kinda romantic?" Jooheon supplies. Minhyuk looks up, into his eyes, and wants to cry with the understanding in there. "Minnie…" oh, here he goes. Jooheon is good at reading people. "You've always been so, so full of love. And so ready to accept it."

Yes, because of his stoic parents, because his two best friends are the total opposite and will shower him with affection at any given moment. Minhyuk considers his sanity a direct result of his friendship with these two idiots. He wouldn't trade them for the world.

"It makes sense that you'd like two people, too."

Incredible, how Jooheon knows him.

"Like…?" Minhyuk hasn’t actually said it out loud. Is it really possible for him to be In love with Jooheon, while developing feelings for Hyunwoo? He's always thought he'd be too much of the jealous type to be in a polyamorous relationship. But he wouldn't want it to be open.

What a doozy.

"But what about you?" Minhyuk almost launches himself over the table. "Joo, I can't just like someone else while I'm with you. I love you." And he means it. He means it with his soul. "I love you so, so much."

"And I love you, Minnie. But I like him…" Jooheon casts his gaze down. "Too…"

 _'_ Too _'_ as in _as well as you_ , and _as well as you do._

Minhyuk reaches across the table and curls his fingers with Jooheon's. "I don't know what to do now."

Jooheon laughs a little. "Do we want to like," Jooheon makes a face. "Bring him… in…? I don't know how to do this I never thought I'd want to date two people at once who might also want to date each other. And me." Jooheon tips back and puts a hand on his head. "Oh boy."

"If he doesn't want us, too—"

"I think he does."

Minhyuk stares at Jooheon. "I'm like ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine nine nine percent sure he likes you."

Jooheon smiles. "And I'm like one hundred percent sure he likes you."

"Are you sure about that point oh-oh-oh-oh—"

Jooheon laughs, big and wide. It makes Minhyuk smile, too.

"If this doesn't work and we both find out we were wrong…" Minhyuk tightens his grip on Jooheon's hand.

"You and me, babey." Jooheon brings Minhyuk's knuckles to his lips and kisses him there.

* * *

They decided they were going to talk to Hyunwoo, but then he said no to tagging along on a Friday night bar hang out. They'd purposefully used the word 'hang out,' but then Hyunwoo said _have fun on your date_ , and Minhyuk's brain connected the dots.

"I think he knows he's spending a lot of couple-y time with us."

Jooheon leans against Minhyuk. "So now what?"

"We'll pretend you're drunk and you can sleep over."

"Everyone knows I'm not much of a drinker, though."

He's right. Jooheon getting wasted on a Wednesday night wouldn't make sense. Jooheon getting a beer with his boyfriend then drinking water for the rest of the night, would. Which is what the plan is, anyway. They were just looking for a cool night, test some date-night waters with Hyunwoo, though they’ve done that like a thousand times at this point, and see what he has to say. Instead, Hyunwoo doesn’t want to go out with them.

"What if we brought beers back to the apartment and shared it with hyung?" Is Minhyuk's suggestion.

“Isn’t that… obvious?”

Isn’t that the point? “Ugh, how do you tell someone you want them to be a part of a romantic threesome?”

Jooheon chuckles and kisses Minhyuk’s shoulder. “Let’s just go back early?”

“Yeah.” Minhyuk nods. It’s a good idea.

That’s what they end up doing. They each have one beer, share a plate of cheese fries, and hit up an arcade and Minhyuk creams Jooheon and most of the games, but loses at Gallaga. Repeatedly loses. Jooheon tells him it’s fine, he did great, but the numbers on the screen tell him something else and now he’s pouty and cranky. He pouts the whole way back to the apartment and makes a beeline for Hyunwoo’s room. Hyunwoo is folding laundry on the bed, frowns at Minhyuk’s expression, and just as he’s asking what’s wrong, Minhyuk weaves into his arms.

“Joo sucks.”

Hyunwoo wraps his arms around him. Minhyuk closes his eyes and smiles. Yes. Very nice. Except Jooheon comes in and Hyunwoo is gently pushing him off.

“Nooooo…” Minhyuk grabs onto the front of Hyunwoo’s shirt and tries to keep them close. But Hyunwoo is strong (hot) and very clearly bothered by the physical contact with Jooheon in the room. How does Minhyuk explain that it’s totally okay to hold him in front of Jooheon? They need a better plan. This is barely a plan.

“Uh, Minhyuk-ah, Jooheon-ah, is everything okay?”

“He’s a sore loser.” Jooheon laughs and climbs on the bed, pushing around laundry. “Do you need help?”

Once he has an opening, Minhyuk moves in and latches onto Hyunwoo’s waist. Such a nice shoulder to waist V-shape. How’d Minhyuk get so lucky with two hot boys?

“Uh, no.” Hyunwoo pets a hand through Minhyuk’s hair and tries to move around with Minhyuk on his waist. He keeps looking at Jooheon, keeping his hands off Minhyuk.

“Okay.” Jooheon says, leans over to pick up a sweater and fold it. “What’re you watching?”

“Brooklyn 99.”

“Oooh, I’ve been meaning to get into this.” Minhyuk releases Hyunwoo to grab the remote and pause the show. He flips through the episodes.

“I wanna watch this, too!” Jooheon kneels on the bed, handing Hyunwoo his laundry to put away. “Start from the beginning!”

“Do you mind rewatching it?.” Minhyuk turns and smiles at Hyunwoo. “All three of us together?”

Hyunwoo blinks at him. “Uh. Yeah. Sure.”

“These are in the way. Sit, sit.” Minhyuk pushes Hyunwoo on the side of the bed closest to Jooheon, and grabs the clothes off the bed. He knows where things go by now, tucking away the sweaters and jeans in the appropriate drawers, and turns to see Jooheon nervously glancing at Hyunwoo’s side profile. Looks like Minhyuk needs to intervene.

Minhyuk thinks fast, crawls next to Jooheon and bumps against him. “Move over.”

Jooheon does, scoots right up against Hyunwoo, and Jooheon acts fast, lifting Hyunwoo’s arm to tuck himself under it and cuddle right up against his side.

Minhyuk didn’t know it was possible for Hyunwoo to get so red. Hyunwoo is always so in control of his expression, has like two default ones, but right now his eyes go wide and his cheeks burst with color. He frantically glances over at Minhyuk, who flops against Jooheon and says,

“Cuddle pile.”

Hyunwoo is tense for most of the first episode. By the second episode, the waves of distress coming off him ebb, instead of flood.

Eventually, Hyunwoo’s arm falls comfortably over Jooheon’s shoulders, a hand falling to Minhyuk’s neck, where he gently rests, a thumb grazing softly over Minhyuk’s jawline.

What a smart boy.

* * *

Seven boys, one bathroom. Seven, because Changkyun spends most nights here. Bathroom rules don't apply anymore. No one locks the door unless they’re sitting on the toilet. That’s it that’s the only bathroom rule they have. Minhyuk’s schedule overlaps the most with Kihyun, Hyungwon and Changkyun’s, and he’s seen them pee far too many times to really have any boundaries left.

(“I’ve seen your man’s penis more than you have.” Minhyuk jokes over breakfast. Changkyun huffs a laugh.

“Isn’t it the most beautiful dick you’ve ever seen?”

Kihyun shoots a weird look between them and ducks out of the kitchen.)

They especially don’t lock the door when there’s someone in the shower. Sorry, no personal jerk off time allowed in there anymore. After a few days, that industrial sized bottle of lube disappears from the bathroom. Minhyuk and Jooheon place bets; ChangKi, or HyungWonho. Minhyuk has money riding on ChangKi. He needs to sneak into their room one of these days and secure the evidence and his one hundred dollars and foot massage.

Thankfully, the shower door is divoted, so even though it’s glass the person on the other side isn’t visible. The other person announces they’re coming in with a knock. One night it’s late, and Hyunwoo comes in to brush his teeth. Minhyuk babbles excitedly about the episode of Brooklyn 99 they watched that evening, when Jooheon was still here. Jooheon still hasn’t spent a night, Minhyuk really wants Jooheon to be a part of his and Hyunwoo’s nightly soul-spilling chats, it would help with the whole 'relationship' thing.

Tonight, their nightly chat starts in the bathroom, and Hyunwoo is still in the bathroom when Minhyuk shuts the water off, and all of a sudden Minhyuk can feel panic in the room as if it were the steam itself. Hyunwoo barely manages to make a break for it, because Minhyuk is out of the shower, up in his space in the tight bathroom. It was never meant to accommodate more than a person or two at a time.

Minhyuk reaches for his toothbrush, his towel around his waist, and Hyunwoo is staring, eyes running over his body, down where his towel sits, and there’s a pull, heavy like the scent of Minhyuk’s body wash. He rides it, reaches out to touch his fingers to Hyunwoo’s wrist, slide the touch down to his palm, and Hyunwoo’s hand closes around his.

His gaze comes back up, a little alarmed, wide-eyed and foggy. Minhyuk really thinks it’s all coming together, and he steps closer, so close he has to angle his chin up, and Hyunwoo’s right here, close enough to kiss.

“What are you and Jooheon doing?” Hyunwoo breathes. Minhyuk stands on his tip-toes to get closer, for their noses to brush. Hyunwoo moves away, just barely, searching Minhyuk’s eyes.

Minhyuk lets him in, cups the back of his neck and drops to his feet, still looking directly at Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo, who usually looks so stern and serious, who shines when he smiles, looks unsure. He looks hopeful, a little warm, but he breathes like he’s trying to control it, reel something in. He slips his hand out of Minhyuk’s.

He’s scared. And Minhyuk pushes against him, chest to chest, still gently grazing the back of his neck, shaking his head slightly. He’s giving Hyunwoo a moment to speak, if he needs it. If not, Minhyuk will gladly let him know what’s going on.

“We’re trying to see if you feel the same way about us, as we do you.”

A hand comes to Minhyuk’s hips. He stays right where he is, open and patient, waiting. If Hyunwoo doesn’t want this, he won’t push it. He and Jooheon will stay exclusively the two of them. But if Hyunwoo is serious, if Hyunwoo is willing, they’ll give this a try. Minhyuk can only image how strange it must be to have a couple be willing to open up to him.

“You need to tell me what you want.”

Minhyuk keeps eye contact. “I can tell you what Joo and I both want. And that’s you. With us.”

“You want a polyamorous relationship.” Hyunwoo says slowly. “With me.” And it sounds weak. Minhyuk chews his lower lip, wishes Hyunwoo didn’t sound so disbelieving.

“Joo and I have talked a lot about it, and —”

“But I haven’t talked to Jooheon about it.” Hyunwoo pulls back, Minhyuk lets him go.

“But… do you want to?” His hand falls from Hyunwoo’s neck, he reaches to pull the front of his robe closed over his chest.

Hyunwoo’s chest rises, falls, and that hopeful look is back. “I do.”

It’s just the three of them, it’s the very next day and Jooheon comes by after work, and Minhyuk’s been crawling out of his skin. He keeps looking at the clock, he can’t stop eating, his stomach hurts. He nearly walked into the door at Waterfront, was carrying a tray of food. Is he Changkyun? Is this what Changkyun usually feels like? Maybe Minhyuk should be a little nicer to him.

Hyunwoo isn’t even sitting yet, but Minhyuk decides to clear the air.

“We want you to date both of us.”

Jooheon sighes in slight annoyance at his side. Hyunwoo stands only a few feet over, a mug of tea in his hand, and he’s staring at it like if he stares long enough, it’ll turn to beer, or something. He’s a beer drinker. Minhyuk could use a few right now. A few tequila shots. Anything to keep his leg from tapping.

Jooheon reaches out and puts a hand on his leg to stop the shaking. That helps a little. When Hyunwoo sits on the opposite couch, Minhyuk eyes the physical space put between them. Jooheon gets up and crosses it, sits right next to Hyunwoo, twisted to face him.

"You both want this?" Hyunwoo softens when he looks at Jooheon.

Jooheon nods, leans in and places his head on Hyunwoo's shoulder. Hyunwoo leans in close to rest their heads together.

* * *

When Jooheon came out to Minhyuk, it went like this:

Jooheon said he had something important to tell Minhyuk. Minhyuk was drained from one of the worst hangovers of his life, an awful midterm, and all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. But Jooheon was nervous, fidgety and avoiding his gaze, so Minhyuk knew it was important and went to Jooheon's car on the opposite side of campus, damn him, and reached for Jooheon's hands. That's always helped him; holding his hands, ever since he was younger. Changkyun figured it out when they were young, when it was "less weird" for Jooheon to hold his hand because they were "just boys." Changkyun passed that knowledge onto Minhyuk when the little friendship duo became a little trio, and now they hold his hand to let him know they're here for him. Whether he's a middle schooler nervous about applying for a role in the schools rendition of Romeo and Juliette or he's an adult nervous to apply for the masters program, Minhyuk and Changkyun hold his hand.

So Minhyuk held Jooheon's hand, waited patiently for Jooheon to collect himself, and then Jooheon went, "Will you go on a date with me?"

Minhyuk tensed, and he knew it looked like a bad tense because he stuttered and leaned back but what.

"Uh, I shouldn't of started with that ah fuck—" Jooheon clung to Minhyuk's hands as he tried to pull away. "I'm ace. And uh. I… oh god." Jooheon pulled his hands back to cover his face. "Min, fuck, I'm so sorry this is such a fucking disaster."

"You're what?" Minhyuk's head spun. "You're… asexual?"

Jooheon let out a shaky breath. The lighting in the parking garage sucked, Jooheon's face all shrouded.

"Yeah. But I'm not… aromantic. And, uh. I really… I've wanted to tell you for a while now, Kyunnie knows, by the way, and we don't even have to do a date, or, uh. Go on one, Jesus—"

"I like you too." Minhyuk wasn't ever one to kick a gift horse in the mouth. "Joo I like you so much. We…" He could feel himself sprinting off into the metaphorical sunset. He could feel a little flicker of warmth in his chest; a spark of hope. Changkyun has always supported him from the start and got a little pushy in Minhyuk confessing which means the fucker knew. The fucker knew how Minhyuk felt for Jooheon and how Jooheon felt for him.

"Yeah…?" Jooheon dropped his hands back onto Minhyuk's.

They've held hands so many times before. But Minhyuk never let himself think too much on it. Otherwise he would've kept thinking. And kept wondering; kept wondering how Jooheon's fingers would lock between his longer ones, how Jooheon's palms would fit against his. Minhyuk looked down at their hands, comfortably folded over one another. He took Jooheon's hand, slid their fingers together, ran a thumb over the side of Jooheon's palm.

"We could… talk about this?" Minhyuk finished, still watching how Jooheon dragged a finger over the back of his hand.

"Yeah…"

Minhyuk looked up, heart leaping at the hopeful look in Jooheon's eyes. "We could talk about this… on a date?"

Jooheon laughed a little, nodded very fast.

"Yes, please."

And now they’re here. And Minhyuk has not only let his feelings out for Jooheon, he's let them bloom, and if he thought he felt a lot for Jooheon all those years ago, well, damn. They don't compare to what he feels now. Jooheon. Jooheon, Jooheon, Jooheon, the light of his life the reason he's who he is today even because of their time together before they dated. Minhyuk knows Jooheon, they've been friends for a decade and they've dragged each other through shit when life got shitty, and now they're dating. And Minhyuk has never felt so loved and accepted and happy, being with someone he truly trusts, being with someone that's honest and open with him. It sucks, that he held in his feelings for Jooheon for nearly two years before Jooheon confessed to him, but he doesn't think he would've had it any other way. Their relationship is amazing for where they're at now. He's actually kind of glad that this is how his parents found out, by seeing him with Jooheon. He never wanted to keep Jooheon a secret.

So as they decide to navigate something totally new with a third person, Minhyuk knows, if anything were to happen, he still has Jooheon.

They're just as open as they were with each other, with Hyunwoo. And Hyunwoo is just as open with them, as he gets quiet, lowers his voice for some things, and they talk for hours, sitting in a circle on his bed trying to figure this out.

Minhyuk struggles around the word 'rules,' replaces it with 'boundaries.' They need to figure out what they want; what they're looking for, and most importantly, what they're comfortable with. None of them have done this before, which is comforting to Minhyuk. Because he doesn't know how to do this. But he wants to, they all want to. They're going to figure it out together, go on official dates the three of them, break out of the just friends mode to boyfriends.

"How do we tell the others?" Jooheon asks finally, and they glance at each other. Minhyuk knows they do. If they want to all date, they have to be able to openly be the three of them in front of everyone. It's not like the apartment is ever empty for long periods of time. A majority of the time there's someone home.

Right now, Hoseok and Hyungwon are home. They're making some noise from the kitchen. Something smells really sweet and delicious. Minhyuk's distracted by it. He wants to go get some sweets and rip off the bandaid.

"We should do this. Right now."

Hyunwoo blinks really fast. "What? Now?" He rubs his palms on his shorts. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Jooheon nods. "Let's do it."

"We've been kind of dating for, like, months now." Minhyuk says, because it's true. He doesn't know how it happened but around the holidays Jooheon started hanging out with Hyunwoo more often and then the three of them were constantly together, and now they're dating. All he knows is that he’s ready for this, they all are, so why not tell the others already?

Jooheon bites his lip and furrows his brow a little, but nods. They both look at Hyunwoo, and Jooheon says,

“This is your decision as much as ours…”

Hyunwoo nods, though it’s a little slow. “Yeah. Okay.”

Minhyuk texts Kihyun and Changkyun in one group chat, is a little surprised that up until now they didn’t have a chat just the three of them, asking what time they’ll be home. Kihyun responds with; twenty minutes, which means Changkyun is probably driving. Awesome.

In the meantime, Minhyuk, Jooheon and Hyunwoo go join Hoseok and Hyungwon in the kitchen. Hyungwon is baking brownies, judging by the smell and the chocolate covered kitchen utensils Hoseok is rinsing off and sticking in the dishwasher.

“What are you baking for?” Jooheon asks, peering over Hyungwon’s shoulder as he checks the oven.

“Supervisor’s last day is tomorrow.” Hyungwon says, shutting the oven. He doesn’t supply much else. He’s a man of few words, and for a little while Minhyuk wondered how chatty Hoseok managed to be with Hyungwon. But after really talking with Hyungwon, and being around more to see the two interact, Minhyuk’s realized that Hyungwon always says a lot with few words, and he listens well. He listens to Hoseok very well, especially.

“What’s everyone else bringing?” Hyunwoo asks while Minhyuk blurts, “Did you make extra for us?”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes and Hoseok laughs, cheery, “Yeah, he made extra for us! I made sure of it.”

“Should’ve made edibles for us.” Hyungwon wipes flour off the counter.

“Ooh, I would sleep like a baby.” Jooheon sits at the kitchen table. It’s not used very often, it’s covered in mail, the guys mostly eat in the living room or in their bedrooms. Jooheon picks up one of the gossip mags that Hyungwon loves to indulge in sometimes, and flips through it.

“I think Kyun knows someone.” Minhyuk says. He knows Changkyun used to know someone, doesn’t know if they still talk anymore.

“Looks like I’ll be making brownies again soon.” Hyungwon mumbles, checking his phone. “I think they’re ready.”

“They should be.” Hoseok pats his wet hands on his pants, leaving wet marks all over the grey fabric. He digs out two oven mitts for Hyungwon and tells him to be careful while Hyungwon just hm’s at him. The brownies smell amazing, if Minhyuk weren’t so nervous, he’d want one. He changes his mind once they’re on the counter. Minhyuk wants one. They have M&M’s on top. He’s going to devour as many as he can.

The porch light turns on, and Minhyuk stiffens, glancing at Jooheon and Hyunwoo. The lock clicks, and in step Changkyun and Kihyun. Changkyun, wearing that odd square-shaped smile he wears when he’s about to tell them he did something stupid.

He goes, “Heeeeeey, fam,” in that squeaky voice he uses when he does something stupid. Minhyuk knows a headache is coming. He hears Jooheon groan in exasperation. The last time they heard this he was telling them about the Hot Guy (Kihyun) who's pants he wanted to get into.

“Why do I feel… doom.” Hyungwon narrows his gaze at the two and Kihyun also grins in a floppy sort of way and shuts the door behind him and snuggles his arms around himself and his extra round parka. He opens his mouth and his parka wiggles and yips. Like a dog. Minhyuk’s jaw drops.

Hoseok gleefully gasps as Hyungwon goes, “You didn’t.”

Kihyun looks a little sheepish, at least, as a pointy-eared little tan thing pops its’ head out of his coat.

“You did.” Hyungwon looks defeated, glancing at the others, mainly Hyunwoo. Hoseok nearly screams and runs to pick the dog up from Kihyun’s arms, so he'll be no help.

“Oh she’s adorable!!” He lifts the dog into the air. “He!” And he laughs happily. “He’s so fucking cute! Babe! Look at him!”

He’s cute. In a wiry little way, mostly brown with a saddle of black fur on his shoulders, his stubby tail swinging around like a maniac. He wriggles in Hoseok’s arms and aims his mouth at Hoseok’s and he laughs as he leaves little licks all over his chin, and Hoseok giggles and holds him close.

“I love him! What’s his name?!”

Minhyuk can’t resist going over to scratch at the dog’s head. He looks even cuter up close, and tries to lick Minhyuk’s fingers.

“Gizmo.” Changkyun says, but Kihyun elbows him.

“That’s the name the person before gave him.”

“Can we even have a dog?” Hyunwoo asks, but he goes soft when Hoseok comes over and plops him in his lap, and Gizmo loses his mind, climbing up Hyunwoo's chest and Hyunwoo laughs, going, “Okay, okay, I don’t care, either.”

“We went to the pound and this one started crying.” Changkyun points at Kihyun, who sticks his tongue out at him.

“Okay, why’d you end up at the pound? Knowing exactly how this one is with dogs?” Minhyuk looks at Kihyun, who can’t keep his eyes off Gizmo, even from across the room. He’s safe in Hyunwoo’s arms, but Kihyun looks like he’s watching out to make sure he doesn’t fall.

“They were doing this pet the dogs thing and we fell for it. I told him it was a bad idea.” Changkyun hangs his coat on one of the hooks and takes Kihyun’s and hangs it over his.

“Of course I didn’t listen.” Kihyun clicks his tongue and Gizmo’s ears twist, and he looks over for him.

Hyunwoo coos, his palm alone covering Gizmo’s entire face. “He’s already used to the sound of your voice, that's so cute.”

“He baby-talked him the entire ride home.” Changkyun rolls his eyes. But when Hyunwoo places Gizmo down and he scampers across the kitchen and back into Kihyun’s arms, he goes soft.

“If we have to pay extra for a dog, it’s coming out of your half.” Hyungwon moves closer to teasingly grab Gizmo’s paw. He whips it back and Hyungwon laughs, grabbing at it again, and Gizmo wriggles in Kihyun’s arms. “You’re gonna have to get a job, you hear me?”

Gizmo barks, and it’s not as sharp as most small dog’s, but still a little high. It matches him.

“Did you buy his doggy stuff yet?” Hoseok’s eyes light up and his hands are on the dog again, scratching between his shoulders.

“Just a bowl, and some dry food.” Kihyun bounces Gizmo. Changkyun glares a little at him.

Oh, Minhyuk can’t wait to tease Changkyun for being jealous over a dog that’s like barely a foot tall.

“There’s this pet shop near work, they’re all organic. We should go.” Hoseok scratches his ear. Gizmo looks so happy between so many men. Which, like, Minhyuk can relate to.

“Sounds kind of expensive.” Changkyun mumbles, scooting past them.

“But he’s worth it, aren’t you sweetie?” Hoseok coos, and Kihyun smiles down at Gizmo.

“Are you keeping the name Gizmo?” Hyunwoo also gets up to crowd around Kihyun and pet the dog. What a lucky little dude.

“I don’t want to keep it.” Kihyun pouts. “But he’s two and a half, can he be re-trained with a new name?”

“Probably not.” Changkyun says as he disappears into the living room, carrying his shoes. Oh, he’s so bitter. Minhyuk looks at Jooheon and they laugh, rolling their eyes. They're gonna tag-team tease him later.

“I was thinking Flynn. Like, Flynn Ryder. From Tangled.”

Minhyuk doesn’t understand, but whatever that means makes Changkyun make a soft noise, go a little thunderstruck. Must’ve been a date night, or something. Or maybe that movie was playing the first time they fucked. Changkyun looks significantly less bothered by the dog though, and when Kihyun places him down to run free through the apartment, Minhyuk decides, now. Now is the time to totally turn the mood upside down. Everyone’s in a good mood because of Gizmo- Flynn? If he learns his new name.

“I have an announcement.” Minhyuk nearly shouts, his nerves rising into a new high. Everyone stops and looks at him, Hyunwoo mid-reach for a brownie. He tenses up a bit when he realizes what’s happening, and Jooheon takes a deep, deep breath that cuts through the silence. Hyungwon glances between Jooheon and Minhyuk, and Minhyuk says it. After a minor internal freak out.

“Uh.” And reaches for Hyunwoo’s hand to interlace their fingers. He tries not to focus on all the confused stares at once. “Hyunwoo… and I. And Jooheon. We’re dating. Like, the three of us."

Flynn re-enters the kitchen, his nails tapping against the tiles. That’s really all the noise happening right now.

“Oh.” Changkyun speaks up first. “Uh. Okay.”

“Okay.” Hoseok says, blindly reaching for the brownies on the counter. He’s wide-eyed staring at them like he expects there to be more. Minhyuk doesn’t really know what else to offer. That’s it. They’re together. That’s the announcement.

“It must be weird…” Minhyuk starts, trying to salvage some of the mood, but Kihyun cuts in,

“Nah.” He looks between them. “It kind of makes sense.”

Changkyun nods along. “How long has this been going on…?”

“Well, we’ve been un-officially dating for like, months.” Jooheon supplies, and Hyunwoo blushes a little.

“Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Totally.” Jooheon gives him a tight lipped smile.

“Anyway we’re dating. The three of us.” Minhyuk just wanted to say it again, in case someone missed the point the first time. But all it takes is one glance around for him to realize that, no, they get it. And this was so painless.

“I’m happy for you!” Hoseok grins, and Hyunwoo is closest to him so he suffers from a good sock on the shoulder. Hyunwoo grunts in pain and holds his shoulder, and Minhyuk winces because it sounded painful. Better Hyunwoo than him.

“Yeah,” Hyungwon smiles a little, and gives Minhyuk a knowing look. “A romantic threesome.”

“Ohhhhhh!” Kihyun flaps his arms around. “Is that why you were asking us about threesomes?”

Minhyuk grimaces and spins towards the counter, he can feel Changkyun’s gaze burning into his skull, and tries to distract everyone. “Who wants brownies?!”

Everyone’s commentary overlaps one another’s. Minhyuk grabs the cooled edges of the cookie sheet and takes a moment to just smile to himself, absorb the sounds of his friends being a bunch of supportive dumbasses, and turns around when he feels Hyunwoo’s arm settle on his lower back.

“You okay?” Hyunwoo asks quietly, and then there are Jooheon’s two arms around his waist and a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Changkyun wolf whistles at them, and Flynn barks in excitement.

“I’m… really good.” Minhyuk whispers back, then pulls the cookie sheet from the counter and Hyungwon comes in, shoving past Jooheon.

“Hell no, you guys can’t eat all of them. Stop. Give me that, it’s one for each of you—"

“—One?!” Jooheon squeaks.

“I’m not doing another batch.”

"That was painless." Minhyuk crashes onto his stupid futon and huffs into the pillow.

"I want to die." Jooheon closes the door behind them.

The futon dips, and Minhyuk lifts his head to see Hyunwoo sitting, Hyunwoo furrowing his perfect eyebrows. He plucks them, Minhyuk found him earlier in the week attacking them with tweezers and something about the scene made him super fond and gave him an overwhelming urge to smooch him. It still hasn't quite gone away.

"I'm still nervous. We haven't really… we've been 'official' for maybe an hour." Hyunwoo says.

Minhyuk sits up and puts his hand on Hyunwoo's shoulder and leans in and kisses his cheek. Cute, how Hyunwoo turns pink. Jooheon comes over to kiss right between his eyebrows, and Hyunwoo visibly relaxes, his eyebrows relaxing, but his face goes from pink to red. Minhyuk cups his face. He's so warm, too.

"We don't want you to think we're not being serious."

Jooheon nods, then climbs into Hyunwoo's lap. He fits very well. "Yeah, hyung. If they know, then we don't have to pretend nothings going on when they're around."

Minhyuk has a huge heart, and he listens to it, and trusts it.

"We'll be fine." He assures, reaching down and taking Hyunwoo's hand. He sighs and snuggles into Hyunwoo’s side, just taking a moment to remember this forever.

“Why are we on the small bed,” Hyunwoo mumbles, wrapping his arms securely around Jooheon and standing. Jooheon laughs and clings, yelping as Hyunwoo drops him on the bigger bed, then Hyunwoo turns around and comes for Minhyuk, who throws his arms out and honestly squees as he’s lifted. This means he has two boyfriends that can lift him and he’s really looking forward to more of this. Unfortunately, he probably can’t lift Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo drops him on the bed and Minhyuk laughs, curling up and Jooheon throws an arm and a leg over him, and then Hyunwoo just drops on top of them, winding the two of them, both of them trying to laugh and breathe at the same time.

* * *

“You want your shit, right?” Changkyun points up at Minhyuk’s old bedroom window. He’s lived in this house for half his life, but he doesn’t think he’s ever stood on the back porch and looked up at it. It’s an odd perspective.

Changkyun, Kihyun, Jooheon and Hyunwoo are here with Minhyuk, standing on the porch of his parents house while they’re out, to get his shit. Hopefully there’s something left. Jooheon’s mom and Ali have been keeping an eye out on the front lawn and they haven’t reported any large items or boxes in the garbage. It’s been almost a month of Minhyuk sleeping in Hyunwoo’s room, mooching clothes off everyone, and replacing all his old products. There’s stuff from his room that he wants, things he keeps looking for and then remembers he doesn’t have anymore: like his MacBook. That was expensive and came out of his own wallet, his parents better not have touched it or he’ll turn the house upside down for it. He needs it so he can start doing shit for his classroom. He has a life to get back to.

“How are we supposed to go in, they changed the goddamn locks.” Kihyun glances around the porch. “There’s no, like, mat they keep a spare key under…?”

“No. And the garage is locked.” Minhyuk glances at Changkyun. Changkyun, who knows how to scale the house like a monkey.

“Hopefully the window’s unlocked.” Changkyun stretches out his legs, and Kihyun slowly looks like he’s piecing it together.

“You are not climbing the side of the house.”

“It’s easy.” Changkyun shrugs, looks over to Minhyuk. Minhyuk shrugs, then nods. Changkyun has done this dozens of times. After Minhyuk’s parents sat him down at told him not to hang out with someone like Changkyun, aka an out and proud gay, Changkyun stopped coming in through the front door. He always answered the phone when Minhyuk needed someone to talk to, and would come over if needed. Even if it was late, Minhyuk would just unlock the latch and answer when Changkyun knocked on the window.

The first time he ever did it was the night Minhyuk’s parents sat him down. It was senior year of high school, his parents figured it out way too fast. They sat Minhyuk down, asked him if Changkyun was gay, and Changkyun was out so Minhyuk said yes, and they said, “We don’t want you associating with him anymore.”

Changkyun took it well, later, when Minhyuk called him to whisper into the phone what his parents said. He cried, thinking Changkyun would be mad, that Changkyun wouldn’t want to be his friend anymore, and overly dramatic high school Minhyuk couldn’t imagine what it’d be like without one of his best friends in his life - still couldn’t. But Changkyun said, “Hey, don’t be sad, I’ll come over.”

“My parents don’t want you here.”

And Chagnkyun climbed the side of his house for him. Seeing Changkyun in his bedroom window at midnight on a school night, when his room is on the second floor, made Minhyuk realize he would always fight to have Changkyun in his life.

“One last time.” Changkyun smiles in a way that makes Minhyuk’s heart flood. How’d he get so lucky to have Changkyun as one of his best friends? How does someone like Changkyun even exist?

If Kihyun breaks his heart even in the slightest, Minhyuk will raise hell.

Minhyuk has never seen Changkyun actually climb, he did it so quietly. Minhyuk wonders how Changkyun did it without ever falling and breaking his leg.

Half the back porch is covered, and Changkyun uses the grill, of all things, to hoist himself up, bring him up high enough to grab onto the roof over the gutter, and with a little hop that rattles the grill, he’s up and over the covered porch. He slinks across it to get to Minhyuk’s bedroom window. Minhyuk looks over and sees Kihyun with his head in his hands, and Hyunwoo looking a little stunned.

“Congratulations,” Jooheon laughs and pats Kihyun on the back. “Your boyfriend’s a burglar.”

“I can’t believe I just watched him break into a house.” Kihyun truly sounds pained.

Wait— “He made it in?! My window was unlocked?” Minhyuk rushes back to see over the roof, sees that Changkyun isn’t there and, fuck yes, his bedroom window is open.

He spins around to the familiar clicking of the screen door, and Changkyun pirouettes out onto the porch.

“I’ve infiltrated the Lee household, you may enter.”

Minhyuk grins and grabs him for a hug. Kihyun looks so torn.

“We're all criminals now." Jooheon keeps rubbing salt into Kihyun’s wound.

“Isn’t that hot?” Changkyun wiggles his eyebrows and his shoulders and Kihyun just stares at him.

“No.”

“I’m a bad boy, I blow through that stop sign up at the corner, like, all the fucking time. It says no turn on red at the intersection up on Main but if it’s late enough I,” Changkyun flips his imaginary hair, “Turn on red.”

“You’re really living on the edge.” Hyunwoo delivers in monotone.

“Please shut the fuck up.” Kihyun pushes Changkyun into the house. “We have to hurry.”

Minhyuk smiles to himself but rushes past them. He rushes through the house, goes right upstairs to his bedroom. It hurts, really bad and really fast, to see that his stuff is gone through. Most of his shit is touched. He doesn’t know how the boxes are sorted as and he, quite frankly, doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t want to know what the thought process was in his parents’ deranged minds. It honestly makes it easier for him. This is fine.

He double checks his drawers and closet, scans under the bed and digs through his desk. He goes into his father’s office and Hyunwoo helps him find his documents; he has Korean and American ones, while the rest of the gang carries the boxes out to his car. He can sort through these later. He has a lot of spring cleaning to do.

“You seem to be handling this well.”

Minhyuk looks up at Hyunwoo, stops digging through one of his drawers. He’s trying to find the shit for his car. He’s taking that. That’s his, and it’s just been sitting here in the driveway, untouched.

“Uh, well, I knew this day was coming and I’ve been mentally checked out for like, years now.” Minhyuk decides to just take the whole binder. All this shit is going into Hyunwoo’s room. He feels a little bad.

He actually feels really bad. He went knocking on Hyunwoo’s door and uprooted his bedroom and his sanity and now they’re dating. So much has happened in the last few weeks and Hyunwoo, Hyungwon, Hoseok and Kihyun have been nothing but accommodating, they’ve been nothing but family to him. But he takes a lot of space. He tries to take up space wherever he can, because at home he had to be meek. He had to be a shell of who he is. And it’s crazy, how he can be loud and do his make up and be loved for who he is by people he’s known for not even a full year, but his parents have him breaking into his own house to steal his own shit.

Hyunwoo comes closer, kisses Minhyuk on his forehead, wraps a gentle hand around the back of his neck.

“You’re brave, Minhyuk-ah.” Hyunwoo says softly, and Minhyuk smiles, has to stand on his tip-toes to reach Hyunwoo’s lips.

Most people would assume he’s supposed to be sad over this, but he isn’t. Minhyuk really isn’t.

They kiss for the first time, in the middle of his father’s ransacked office, Hyunwoo holding his hand, and Minhyuk’s heart settles. It doesn’t take off, it doesn’t rattle around. No, Minhyuk feels at peace, kissing Hyunwoo. He feels centered. Minhyuk has never felt so free, so unchained.

Two arms come around his waist and Minhyuk breaks away from Hyunwoo to see Jooheon, bright and happy Jooheon, and kisses him, too, saying I love you.

“We gotta get out of here. Kyun and Ki-hyung are waiting in the car.” Jooheon kisses Minhyuk once more, Hyunwoo’s hand slips into his.

Minhyuk will never miss this house. Will never look back. It’s everything he wants to leave behind, he has so much to look forward to, one hand in Jooheon’s, one in Hyunwoo’s.

**Author's Note:**

> minhyuk!! is!! my!! baby!! he's had a huge presence since the first drafts of trials, and i've been wanting to give him his own chapter for a while now.  
> and hyungwonho took the lube from the bathroom


End file.
